Lone Wolf: Abode Astray
by zero yasha
Summary: Isn't it bad enough that I find out that I'm a Half-Blooded freak? No. Now I know that monsters want to kill me, I have a stalker that won't go away, and that I apparently have two prophecies to fulfill, one of which involves saving a GODDESS! GODS!
1. Chapter 1: My Homework Eats My Dog

**Lone Wolf: Abode Astray

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I gotta say, the Percy Jackson books are good, especially since it keeps my attention with the load of stuff university gives me! XP;; This fic takes place the summer _after_ the fifth book, so if you don't want spoilers, don't read this. Note: Percy's not the main character in this one. Eon, who's in pretty much all my fics in one way or another, is the main character. So humour shall ensue! Also note, if there's a second series made after book five, it didn't happen in this fic/these fics. I'm making the big prophecy in the end of book five work with this since I have a plan for it already. I hope you all enjoy reading this as much as I'll enjoy writing it. (P.S. All fans of my Warriors and .Hack fics, I WILL continue them, just not now, since I'm not in the mindset...sorry, especially to the .Hack fans. I know you waited over a year for a TRUE update.)

Also, if you're reading this going by nothing more than the movie, foreshame! The movie pulled an Eragon, and by that, I mean it has abso-posi-lutely NOTHING to do with the book! And the worst part is that it's WORSE than Eragon! I wanted to CRY, it was so bad! They even managed to screw up GREEK MYTHOLOGY in it! So there. I do not like the movie. Anyone who DID like it after reading the book is sadly beyond help. It was lazy, had POOR research, the plot was WRONG, it used PUNS/BUTT JOKES as the primary source of humour, had the wrong BAD GUY; the final battle was anticlimactic, and it forgot that everyone in Camp Half Blood should be DEAD after seeing Hades' TRUE FORM. Some of the characters didn't even look NEAR how they were described in the book (and by that, I mean everyone). Seriously, HAIR DYE people; Contact lenses; WIGS! I DON'T CARE! AT LEAST TRY to have SOMETHING to do with the book! "Percy" couldn't even ACT right! This movie was more about COMMERCIALISM than Percy Jackson! iPod, coke, some expensive car and video games I can't name. Those were all shown more than Dionysus (which didn't show up at ALL)! On top of it all, they're thinking of making a sequel...which is IMPOSSIBLE with what WASN'T shown and the BLOODY FACT that they're already 17! And that's my rant. Tadah!

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Disclaimer:  
- The Percy Jackson series belongs to Rick Riordan, not me. If they belonged to me, I wouldn't be writing this fic like this, nor would I be disclaiming it.  
- Greek mythology does not belong to me, for it belongs to...uh...everyone? I dunno who it belongs to. I guess the Gods. So thank them for it, not me.  
- Teh Aisu and Eon both belong to me, so don't you DARE take them without permission! Or Teh Aisu will chase you down and EAT CHU! No really. She's big.  
-Ashirai (Ashi) belongs to Worenx and Anderson belongs to Miffin, two of my bestest friends. Don't steal them, or Teh Aisu will eat chu again!  
- Eon will often make pop culture references throughout the fic. None belongs to me. Duh.  
-DreamWorks studio owns "How To Train Your Dragon".

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**Chapter 1**  
**My Homework Eats My Dog  
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_Remember in grade one when you were asked: "What do you want to be when you grow up?" Do you remember the kid that said that they wanted to be a ballerina? An actor? The pope? You do? Good. Then do you remember the weird kid(s) that wanted to be a "hero"? Yeah? Well, screw them. They have _no_ idea what it means to be a hero, nor do they have any idea what it's like to suddenly wake up one day and be a demigod.

I speak of this, of course, from experience. Name's Eon Ippikiookami, half-blood at your service. If you're reading this right now, I assume you're already familiar with the term. Half-mortal, half-god, one-hundred percent freak. That's right. I consider myself a freak, just like the rest of society would if they realised why so many "accidents" happen around me. That's why I warn you now: if strange things happen around you, if you think your math teacher has a tail, or the school bully eats a little too much red meat, stop reading this. The only advice I can give you beyond that is to hope the day your mortal parent suddenly decides that "the time is right" to tell you that your long lost mother or father is really some all-powerful being never comes. Ever.

The reason for this: the time is _never_ right to learn something that big. It doesn't matter if you're twelve or twenty; the reaction's always the same. You don't believe it. It's just a biiiiiig joke...then a monster shows up at your doorstep and _BLAMO!_ Either you or the monster ends up dead. If you're lucky enough, some help might come...sometimes...though rarely.

So again, if you're reading this and think that you just might fall into the half-blood category, close this book _right now_ before you get sucked into it like I did. Because believe me, I was once a "normal kid" just like you. I never asked to be a demigod; I never asked to know who my dad was (except a couple hundred times); and I definitely never asked for my life to be thrown into a spinning mess of constant fighting. But hey, if you're still reading this, then I'll assume you're more curious about my life story than any worldly advice...

It all began for me on the last day of school—a day that seems to be cursed for demigods. It started like a normal enough day...or as normal as a demigod's day can get. I ate breakfast, fed the dog, yelled at my stepsiblings and packed a lunch. See? Normal. It was at the bus stop that all normality vanished from my life.

There I was, sitting, waiting for the 7:45 to Lakewood with a Venus flytrap on my lap. Oh, that's not the weird part. That was my homework. The weird part was the _bus_. I don't mean that as in it came on time for once...actually, that's partially it, but not all. It came on time, but the bus was completely empty, save for the driver. I know that I should've found it odd, since the bus would normally be bursting with loud, obnoxious teenage wannabes by this point, but I counted it as a blessing and sat down, glad to get a seat for once. The bus continued on its normal route until it finally stopped to let someone else on three blocks later.

Now, here's a completely empty bus save for one person. Where could you possibly sit? My nonexistent magnetic powers must've kicked in just then because the girl that came on sat next to me, and when I say that, I mean _right next _to me. As in the seat right beside mine. If that's not weird enough, her appearance sure was. She wore black jeans with rips on the knees and calves and a white shirt with a black PUNISHER-esc skull centered on it. Small black skull earrings decorated her earlobes, and a strange gold and black chain rested around her neck. A black jean jacket, decorated with more chains, was lazily thrown over her shoulders. Her messy hair was black with a red streak going through it. I couldn't tell if it was dyed or not, and I wasn't about to ask.

We sat in silence as the bus rolled on. I pretended to busy myself with fixing up my flytrap, but was constantly aware of her staring at me. It was eerie. Her eyes were sky blue and searching, unblinking. It seemed like an eternity until she finally shifted and flicked a stray strand of hair away from my cheek.

"Nice hair." She commented, a grin on her lips. I couldn't help but give her a sidelong glare. No one touches the hair, nor do they make fun of it. She quickly noticed her mistake though and raised her hands apologetically. "Hey, I didn't mean it as an insult. It's just unique. Silver. You don't see that often."

I grunted. Unique was an understatement. More like big sign painted on my head saying "freak walking; move it or lose it."

"So, what's your name?" She pressed on, putting her arm on my shoulder like we were suddenly best buds.

"...Excuse me?"

"Your name. What is it?" She repeated, a false smile on her face.

"I don't talk with strangers." I answered lamely, mentally kicking myself for having no snappy comeback.

"Oh..." The weird chick looked up in thought, then snapped her fingers. "Then, let's take the day off!"

I stared at her.

"What?"

"Let's take the day off! Then I won't be a stranger to you, now will I?" Her grin was toothy and daring.

"I-I...take the day off?" How often is it that a complete stranger offers to take the day off with you to do...well, the Gods know what, but it doesn't happen often...I think... "I can't do that! I don't even KNOW you!" I stood up quickly, almost forgetting the flytrap was on my lap before catching it at the last moment. I moved to another seat away from her, but she got up and followed me lazily.

"C'moooon...why not?" She grabbed my arm.

"Let go of me." I growled, backing into one of the poles. Her grip was stronger than I expected. That drew my attention to her build for the first time, way more fit than any other teenager I'd ever seen in person. She had to be sixteen, tops. Her eyes bore into me like a bright blue flame.

"Not an option." Her grin returned, though this time it was dark. She opened her mouth to say something else, but just then the bus swerved, tipping both of us off-balance. I managed to roll away from her when I hit the floor, the pot of my flytrap in ruins right next to her. The driver was looking around, confused, until something crashed into the side of the bus, sending me flying into another seat. The girl swore loudly and jumped up, surprisingly keeping her balance when we were hit again.

I wish I could say that I jumped up right with her, but I couldn't. I was lying on the floor holding my spinning head and bruised side, trying to figure out which way was up. When the ceiling finally stopped dancing around my head, I sat up with a grunt, only to be tossed back down with another loud bang and crash.

"Stay down!" The girl hissed at me. Her knees were bent so her body was low to the ground, making it easier for her to balance. She seemed to know what was going on, the way she guessed which way the bus would crash next and leaned just right to avoid toppling over...unlike me...

The bus driver was in hysterics now, screaming something about super-powered chickens. The girl swore again and was suddenly at my side. I yelped when she grabbed my collar and dragged me up.

"Hey, what'd'ya think you're doin—" She smashed her bare fist into the emergency door release case, shattering the glass. I flinched at the sight of the fresh blood streaming down her arm as she tugged the release lever, forcing the back door to open instantly.

"Out!" She literally kicked me out just as a painfully loud screech came from the top of the bus. It was awful; like nails on a chalkboard—only a hundred times worse with Teh Aisu (my dog) howling along to it.

After landing painfully onto the sidewalk, I flipped myself around (a mistake, as my butt now had a boot print shamefully/painfully etched into it), only to be staring at the remains of the 66 School Special. The top was completely torn off and twisted metal stuck out like toothy daggers. The tires were either flat, smoking or both from the pressure the driver must've been putting on them to get away from whatever made this mess. The smell of burning rubber flooded my nose, making me gag. Some of the windows had been smashed in; some were likely done from my strange "friend," being that they were smashed from the inside. The front door was open and I could barely see the driver racing down the street through the smoky wreckage. He ran surprisingly fast for someone who looked to be about twenty pounds short of a sumo wrestler.

I struggled to my feet, dusting off some of the grit, dust and even blood that now coated my (only) good shirt. The girl appeared in the doorway at the back of the bus and hopped out quickly. She landed low to the ground; her knees were spread at a good angle to either run or duck and roll, then she sped up to me. I opened my mouth, but before I could demand what was going on she grabbed my arm and yanked me behind an abandoned car. She put her finger to her lips in a "hush" motion.

"_No words. Hush, or he'll hear you._" She whispered, her eyes scanning the sky. It'd become dark since I'd got on the bus. Dreary grey clouds covered the black sky. Some raindrops landed on my nose. I was now officially miserable, along with being bruised, scared, traumatised, gagging, cut, lost, annoyed and cold. Wet soon joined my list as the downpour started. We sat there for a while, looking into the sky for some reason. Every so often she'd mutter something I couldn't understand and make a sign on her chest, then look to me as if making sure I hadn't moved from her side.

"_Look, what is going ON?_" I finally had the courage to demand after sitting in the rain for ten minutes. Even though my black haired "friend" had a jacket, she refused to throw it on to keep either of us out of this soaking mess. So we were both soaked from head to toe. Did I ever mention I don't like water?

She stared into the sky until I thought she didn't hear me, then finally looked at me. Her expression startled me. Her eyes were full of concern, something I almost thought impossible to see on this weirdo.

She sighed quietly and nodded.

"_We're under attack. He must've noticed us from being so close together. Just...do what I say and you'll be fine."_ She didn't sound too sure of herself on that...

"_What're you talking about?_" I hissed. "_WHO noticed us?"_

"Yush. Who?"

The teenager flinched so hard she nearly jumped. Her hand gripped the chain around her neck, but paused when she saw the new speaker. She was short, only about a foot and a half tall, covered in fur. She was mainly white, save her paws, ears and between her golden eyes and down her back to the tip of her tail, which was navy. The mane around her neck was cyan, as was her muzzle and stomach. She gave the cutest little grin you could ever imagine, and her tail waved wildly. I scratched her chin.

"Hiz." The puppy chirped, grinning up at us.

"W-what is..." She seemed lost for words for a second, then looked at me suspiciously.

"What?" I poked her black nose. "She's my dog, Aisu."

"Teh Aisu." I was corrected.

"She just...talked..." The girl seemed stuck between surprised and wonder. Maybe it was the fact that she was _blue._

"She does that." I noticed that whispering had been completely forgotten thanks to my strange pooch. I also noticed that she'd heard Aisu too, surprising me. No one ever seemed to understand her like I did. They called me crazy, schizophrenic. At least now I was apparently not alone. I had to smile at that. One boon for the day.

"So who's _he_?" I asked, looking up into the sky once more. I only saw rainclouds and an airplane fly by. No '_he_s' anywhere.

The girl bit her lip hard, making it bleed. She looked torn between telling me and not, which really didn't make me feel any better. Finally she opened her mouth to answer, but faltered.

"He's here." She stood, dragging me up with her.

"Who's here—" I never finished my sentence, 'normal' dropping out of the equation right then and there. There was a loud screech from the sky and a bird the size of a pick-up truck landed on the smoking bus. If I thought that thing was destroyed before, I was dead wrong. The weight and velocity of the bird forced the bus down, shattering its axles, pushing it to the ground with a loud grinding noise. The engine burst into flames with a bang and sparks flew everywhere, igniting the ground where the oil had spilt out, quickly spreading around us (I only thought that was possible in clichéd games. How I wished that was true now with a four foot high wall of flames surrounding us.). The bird glared down at us from the bus. It had eerie red eyes that glowed with the flaming barrier. I could see intelligence in those eyes, making me wonder if it had planned this all along. Had it been waiting to strike only after the rain had washed the oil from the bus and other vehicles around us into a thin half-moon shape?

It took a step off the bus, making it groan before finally collapsing into a flaming heap. It looked strangely dignified, yet dangerous and hungry at the same time. Not a good combo, if you ask me. Its feathers were a golden-brown, and its sharp beak was gold and curved, the tip black. There were two tufts of feathers where I assumed its ears were, similar to a great horned owl, but I could tell right away that it was a golden eagle. That tipped me off for my next discovery. Behind its taloned forepaws were golden cat-like hind paws, black claws glistening in the light of the flames. A lion tail swept the ground slowly as it began to circle us, and I could see the entire backend of it was feline. A griffin had appeared before us. A real. Live. Griffin.

I know that this sounds cool and all, maybe even the discovery of the century (for mortals, at least), but only two thoughts were going on in my head right about now:

1) The battle theme A Formidable Foe Stands in the Way (from Tales of Vesperia), and

2) "Oh my God, I'm going to die now. Why did I need to fight the Griffin so many times?"

"_Don't look into his eyes. Griffins can see the truth, and he'll know what we're planning._" The advice made me feel like my stomach did a nose dive off of a cliff. We had to fight a beast that knew what we were thinking? That was like sending Aeris to a tea party with Sephiroth. _Suicidal!_

I wanted to complain, cry and scream all at once, but that wouldn't help in our current situation. No matter what this kid wasn't telling me, we were face to face with a hungry eight-foot-tall lion-bird-thingy, and it more than likely wasn't here to invite us out for tea and crumpets. The teenager moved into a battle-ready stance, and I grudgingly copied it, not wanting to end the day as someone else's lunch. She fingered the chain around her neck and yanked it off swiftly, like she'd done it hundreds of times before. I wanted to tell her that playing with cheap jewellery wasn't going to help us, but just then the bird beast lunged, its deadly golden beak aimed for my chest.

Without thinking, I dived to the side and ducked on instinct, just as the bird decided sweep a talon where my head was a moment before. My heart raced in my ears and I lost my balance, tripping over my own two feet. My only thought was taking cover from this crazed freak, so I rolled under a nearby car as the bird kept advancing, its red eyes gleaming as it thought of how it'd eat me: maybe as a kid flambé, or possibly shish-ka-kid with a side of pup-tadoes. There was a horrible creaking sound when its taloned feet dug into the car, forcing it down onto me. I cried out in pain and terror when I felt the metal begin crushing me. I couldn't breathe. I couldn't move. I was too terrified to even form a coherent sentence when the weight suddenly lifted off of me, the sound of growling and screeching snapping me out of it. I shifted, trying to pull myself out the side opposite of the ruckus when a strong arm yanked me out. My teenaged hero pulled me too my feet and gave me a brief inspection. She seemed to decide that I passed, because she let go and raced toward the bird without a word. I blinked in sheer confusion. Not only was she raring to go with this two ton freak, but my dog, my little Aisu, was on his back and biting into his neck, causing a considerable amount of irritation, if anything.

"_WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?" _I yelled at both Aisu and the teen. Terror filled me as I watched the girl approach quickly, low to the ground, and the griffin thrash around wildly, Aisu barely clinging on. I would've loved to help if I had 1) a weapon, 2) battle experience, and 3) a death wish. Unfortunately, I had none of my makeshift requirements to join in the fray, so like a coward I retreated backwards, shaking. I wanted to look away. I wanted to suddenly wake up and know that this was all just some nightmare from eating too much sugar before bed, but somehow I knew that it was real. As it was, my eyes were glued to the kamikaze teenager, expecting her to be slashed to ribbons any second now. But before that could happen, she did something even more unexpected than I had thought possible at this point. The chain in her hand glowed, and like Card Captors Sakura, changed from a necklace into a six foot tall gold and black scythe. The top of the hilt had a skull with two stubby horns and an eerie purple glow in the eyeless sockets. A four foot long curved blade came from the skeletal mouth. I gave up all hope of thinking there was a logical explanation for this.

The griffin seemed to realise he was in trouble when the scythe appeared, because before I could say "up-up and away" it spread its enormous wings and jumped into the air. The scythe-wielding teen would have none of it though. She took a running start and jumped up after it, her hand just barely grabbing on to its tail. The beast screeched loudly as it began to lose control (not to mention how much it would've hurt to have someone yank something attached to its butt...) and started to dip, rise and wheel around in mid-air randomly.

It was an amazing sight to say the least...or at least before I noticed Aisu's blue paws lose their grip. My heartbeat was in my ear as I watched her plummet towards the ground, a look of terror on her normally adorable face. I raced toward her, everything else banished in my mind and eyes, even the four foot tall barrier of flames I was quickly approaching. I vaguely realised that the griffin too was after her, but obviously for a completely different reason. His red eyes were slit and his beak was open, ready for a quick snack.

"GET AWAY FROM MY DOG!" I screamed, and before I knew what I was doing, I jumped up at the flames and groped wildly for my falling dog.

Luck must've been on my side for once, because the flames didn't touch me. I mean, it was hot and all, and I could feel the water hiss off my soaked body as the flames licked at my feet, but the fire hissed down just low enough for me to make it over without any excruciatingly painful reminders of my first monster encounter. Aisu landed hard in my arms and we both took a nose-dive into the cement. I gagged as my nose began to bleed everywhere, and tried to angle myself so I wouldn't bleed over the unconscious pup. Suddenly, there was a heavy thud behind me.

I really didn't want to turn around. I already knew what was looming over me, and frankly, my headache didn't help matters any more. But I turned. I turned and faced the eight-foot-tall griffin, who now had a few battle scars of his own, courtesy of my freaky magical-scythe-wielding "friend". Blood dribbled down one of his cheeks, neck, a few slashes on his side, and from the midpoint of his tail, which she had cut off. I could barely smell cooking meat through my bloody nose, but I didn't dare take my eyes off of him to find the other half of his tail. Let's just say he looked plenty pissed the way it was.

He began to prowl around me, and being the trapped kid with an unconscious forty-pound blue and white puppy in my arms that I was, all I could think of doing was making sure he didn't get behind me. I saw it on a nature show once. Just make sure he couldn't get behind me, and I'd be fine, I thought. Well. The nature show lied to me. After seeing he couldn't get behind me easily, he dived at me, beak snapping at my neck.

I did what any brave kid in my situation would've done. I screamed like a little girl (which wasn't too hard, being eleven and all) and dived under him. His talons scraped at the ground, trying to skewer Aisu and me as I dodged for all I was worth. I think I would've gotten away...if I didn't take a lion paw to the face. I dropped Aisu as I skidded back, stopping only a few inches from the flames. The left side of my face was in pain, and I was sure I had a black eye. My nose was now bleeding all over me again. I weakly forced myself to sit up, only for my heart to stop when I saw the griffin looming over Aisu, its sandpaper tongue rasping against its beak.

I wasn't thinking straight, I can tell you that. Maybe it had to do with my dog being in danger. Maybe it had to do with my brains being bashed around all day from a giant crazed bird-cat thingy. Maybe it had to do with all of the stress of being alone (I had no idea where the teenager had disappeared off to. That's teamwork for ya) and having no idea what I should do to get us both out of this in one piece. Whatever had caused it didn't matter though, because I did the craziest thing I had ever done in my whole life. I forced myself up, raced at the bird, regardless of every step feeling like I was on a rocking boat, and jumped onto its foreleg. The bird screeched angrily and raced around wildly while I managed to pull myself up onto its neck, mounting myself on it as if it were a giant horse (which I had never ridden before, by the way).

"NO ONE messes with my dog!" I then proceeded to yank out a rather generous fistful of feathers from one of its ears.

A cautionary note. _Never_ pull out feathers on a griffin. They don't like it. They really, really don't like it...

My ears popped painfully when he raised his head and screeched in agony, before racing forward and jumping into the air. I screamed just as loudly as he did when he started to fly. We caught the air and were sailing over houses in less than ten seconds, but that didn't mean it wasn't a bumpy ride. Not only was he actively trying to get me off of his neck with the use of complex spinning and upside-down flying techniques, he was missing half his tail. If you've ever seen "How To Train Your Dragon," you'll know what I mean. For those of you who haven't, I'll sum it up. _He had no control over which way he went._ If you ever thought that cowboys in rodeos were nuts, try flying hundreds of feet in the air on a griffin that can hardly keep it_self_ up.

I'm not sure how long I lasted. I'm sure it was over three minutes, but I was a little too busy holding on for my life to check my watch. Finally the bird started panting and took a dive down at the cement. I'd finally gotten my air-legs, as I decided to call them, when I realised we were both in trouble. He was coming in too fast. We—by that I mean me, myself and I—were going to become Lakewood pancakes.

My mind was reeling, digging helplessly for a way to get out of this situation. If I stayed, I'd end up a greasy smudge on the ground. If I jumped off, I'd still end up a greasy smudge on the concrete. If I thought happy thoughts and learned to fly, I'd be safe...until I ran out of happy thoughts. Then I'd be smooshed. I didn't like my options.

The ground was approaching quickly, and the griffin didn't seem all too keen on letting up on the dive. I hugged onto his neck tightly, bracing myself for the worst when something suddenly grabbed my shoulder from behind. I flinched and wheeled around, one fist full of feathers raised to defend myself with, the other holding onto the griffin for dear life when I saw a semi-familiar face.

"Didn't know you liked to party." She gave me her cocky grin. Her huge scythe was still in her hand, and it looked _much_ more intimidating up close. The hilt was black with a crimson tinge, and mini golden skulls connected with tendrils of golden thorn vines and what looked like a silver human arm and hand bone decorated it from top to bottom. The blade itself had a pretty plain design, but was black with gold trimming where it was sharp. There was some strange writing along the gold of the blade, which I was surprised I could make out, given my dyslexia. I just had no idea what it said; it was in Greek or something. I could've sworn the main demonic head at the top of the scythe was grinning at me, its purple eyeless sockets waiting for me to fall.

"We're gonna DIE and that's ALL YOU CAN SAY?" The griffin screeched when my hand tightened around his feathers, startling me and making me teeter.

Her smile vanished and she took my arm, somehow balancing me with her on his back. I had no idea how she managed to do it, nonetheless with me as well.

"Not on my watch, kiddie." She swept her scythe wide, some electricity sparking around her hand and the demon skull. I only stared. "Father, protect us." She closed her eyes briefly then jumped, scooping me into her free arm like some damsel in distress as we plummeted down a hundred feet.

I didn't like being the damsel in distress. I hated it even more when I hugged around her neck tightly and screamed loudly, terrified. She shushed me, soothingly, for once, and braced herself. My eyes closed at that moment, and all I could feel was some force suddenly slowing us down when we should've been flatter than a stack of post-it notes.

I finally found the courage to open my eyes, just to see a small force field of electricity suspending us a few inches off the ground, similar to what Lightning did at the start of FFXIII.

"It's okay. We're safe now." The electricity vanished and she landed on her feet casually. She placed me down and looked up, just as the griffin pulled up from the dive and flew over our heads. "Damn bird..." She hissed, sweeping her scythe to her side. "Anderson! Get to work already!"

"No need to shout, Ashirai..." A male voice murmured behind me. I jumped and whipped around, only to be face-to-face with my music teacher, Mr. Anderson...but something was different about him. He smiled at me the same way he always did in class. "Good morning, Eon. I am sorry we had to meet under such...circumstances." He looked even weirder than normal. He was short, only a few inches taller than my 4'8", and had wild brown hair and a matching goatee, both soaked and plastered down onto his face. His dark green eyes were almost black in the rain, and his suit top was ruined. He also had curly mountain goat horns on his head and shaggy brown goat legs. How would I ever explain this all to my short (or whatever they're called...)?

"We need to catch that thing, Anderson! She's not safe _with_ it here!" 'Ashirai,' or so she was apparently called, growled.

Mr. Anderson sighed and pulled out the wooden reed pipes he sometimes played for us in class.

"What...is going _ON_?" I finally demanded, dropping the feathers I hadn't noticed still in my hand. I was trying hard to keep my cool, but seeing my music teacher as a goat-human cross breed was the last straw.

"It will all be explained soon," he promised me, then put the pipes to his lips and began to play one of his favourite tunes.

"So you're just going to play a song? What? Is he gonna fall _asleep_ or something?" I grit my teeth hard, my hands bawled into fists. Enough was enough. I was running out of patience. My dog was unconscious; a giant griffin was approaching her _again_ and looked ready to eat her, and I was soaked and miserable with _no _idea what was going on.

Ashirai put her hand on my shoulder and pulled me closer to her. It might've comforted me a half hour ago, but not now. Now I was mad. Now I wanted to take out that stupid bird myself. And _now_ I saw that my Venus flytrap was growing larger than I had ever seen one before, and slithering toward the griffin. I was ready for the loony bin. Lock me up and throw away the key. Or at least that was until the plant decided to beat the griffin to the punch.

My eyes widened as half the roots wrapped around the griffin's claws, talons, beak and chest, dragging it down. Another few of them wrapped around Aisu and lifted her above its enormous 'mouth'.

"NO!" I screamed, but it was too late. Ashirai held me back, looking just as shocked as I was when it dropped my poor pooch into its mouth. There was a disgusting belch-like sound and Mr. Anderson's song faltered. I stood in silence, staring at where Aisu had been only a moment before. My homework ate my dog. Aisu was gone. How could this happen?

Ashirai swore and raced for the griffin. In one clean sweep she took off its head and it disintegrated into golden dust. I fell to my knees when it washed over me, my head bowed. I didn't want to let them see me cry. Aisu was all that I had. My family didn't pay attention to me like she did. They hated me. They didn't say it, but I knew they wished I wasn't there. I ruined the perfect family picture. I was the outsider.

"Hey..." Ashirai put her hand on my shoulder and kneeled in front of me. "You going to be okay?"

I wanted to snap at her, but that wouldn't bring Aisu back. I just nodded weakly, but didn't move other than that.

"Eon...I-I'm sorry...I never expected it to lose control like that... Flytraps are...different than most plants." Anderson shifted nervously, but I could only see his hooves in front of me.

We sat in silence for a bit longer. The rain finally let up and I could feel the sun against my back, but it didn't make me feel any better. Finally Ashirai looked around and gathered up the griffin feathers I managed to grab earlier on and placed them in front of me.

"Anderson..." She said quietly, and they nodded in agreement to something. Ashirai then began to say some words in another language, while Mr. Anderson played a different song on his pipes, one I've never heard before. I blinked the tears from my eyes and looked to the feathers, barely surprised when they morphed together in a golden light.

"What's...this?" I managed, picking up what appeared to be some stylish sunglasses. I turned them around in my hands, inspecting them. There was a small spinning dial on each of the edges. I spun both, but nothing seemed to happen.

"How interesting. Griffins have the gift True Sight, Eon." Mr. Anderson said, putting his pipes away. "While you did not kill it, these glasses are yours to use, since they are your prize from the fight. Use them well." He backed away from me and looked to Ashirai. "I...leave her in your care, as you wanted. Please, make sure she gets there in one piece."

Ashirai nodded to him, and before I knew it my old music teacher was gone, goat tail and everything.

"Let's go...Eon." Ashirai helped me to my feet. She dusted off some of the gunk on my knees and supported me while I shakily started walking, not caring where I was heading. She redirected me a number of times. We crossed streets and I gradually noticed people existing around us again—hurrying by, staring at us, so on.

"Where...were they before?" I asked quietly, wiping my eyes on my sleeve.

"I created a barrier out of the Mist around where the griffin appeared. Any mortal that came near had an urge to leave or go another way." She explained.

"Mist?" I looked up at her. She'd made her scythe into her chain necklace again, but carried it in her hand, as if waiting for something else to attack.

"It's...hard to explain. I think...that you should ask your mother about this, Eon." She pretended to be interested in a few cars that passed by.

I then noticed that we were on the right track to my house, a shortcut from where we were originally to boot. I tensed. How did she know where I lived? Did she learn my name from "Anderson," as she called him, or some other way? She noticed my tension and looked down at me, worry in her eyes.

"You're right. I've been...watching you...for a while. Anderson noticed you first. It's his job...but it's my job to bring you to camp. Please, don't hate me for it, Eon. It's important you come with me. Your mother will explain everything to you when we get there."

For once, I didn't question her. I would leave the questions to my mom. Aisu was dead, and if anyone was going to explain what was going on, it would be her. The only one I had left that I could trust.

* * *

How was that? I actually had to rewrite the entire thing 3 times to get it to sound so interesting. XD;; FIRST chapters are hard for me. They often end up poor, but the story gets better as it goes on, like my .hack fic. This is also my first time writing in first person POV. How was it? XP I think I did a good job, considering how little I read 1PPOV stories. 3 I hope you liked chapter one and will review! Criticism is welcomed, just not flames. And I want to thank Worenx for lending me Ashi, and Miffin for editing! Next chapter will be up...hopefully soon.

Miffin Notes: BOYCOTT THE MOVIE! *cries in a corner*


	2. Chapter 2: I Learn The Sad Truth

Yay! Chapter 2! I'll admit, this chapter is probably going to be a bit slower than chapter 1, but tenser. Just some exposition, just as the original Percy Jackson books also had. XP Chapter 3 will have more action though, I assure you.

An IMPORTANT NOTE: Ashirai is **_NOT_** a Thalia rip-off. In fact, she was created LONG before I ever even READ Percy Jackson, AND by Worenx, who's never read the series at ALL. She's a canon character for his own storyline, who I was first introduced to in a Pokémon RP! It's just coincidence that they're both...gothic, I guess, and can use electricity. So I'll make it a small running gag every time they're close, since obviously they're both daughters of Zeus and look/act similar. As the story goes on though, it'll be easier to see that there're differences between them. Such as Ashi being MUCH older...and that's all the spoilers for now. (–w –) You need to read on to find out more.

Disclaimer:  
-_Percy Jackson And The Olympians_ belongs to Rick Riordan. Please don't sue me.  
-Eon belongs to me. No taking her without my permission.  
-Ashirai belongs to Worenx. Don't take her.  
-Apollo belongs to Apollo. I don't think you could take him if you tried.  
*(Note: I forgot what Apollo looked like in the books, and I'm not going back to find out. He can change what he looks like anyway, so nya. Live with it.)  
-Harry Potter belongs to J.K. Rowling. I only refer to him once.  
-McDonalds belongs to...McDonalds? Free advertising...whee?

* * *

-**_  
Chapter 2:  
I Learn The Sad Truth  
_**-

* * *

My house was an unimpressive thing. It was one and a half stories with a basement, white washed with a brown roof and chimney. Only the bay windows stick out...literally. We came in through the front, scaring a rabbit on the way. I was too exhausted to make it up the two sets of steps on my own, so Ashirai, my lovely stalker, decided to pick me up and carry me to the door. It was the most humiliating moment (that I could name at the time) of my life.

She set me down gently in front of the door and stepped back. Apparently she wasn't all too keen on giving herself any more of a bad reputation for the day (though breaking and entering wasn't exactly on the top of my 'reasons-to-panic' list at the moment). That left getting in to me. My hands were shaking just as hard as I was, partly from being soaked, partly from the shock that'd just set in, making it almost impossible to get them into my pockets to dig out my keys. After about three minutes of fumbling, Ashirai finally lost her patience and dug into my pockets (scoring number three on my top ten list of the most awkward moments in my life), and made the same partially-disgusted face as I did when she turned up empty-handed.

"You lost your keys." She informed me, avoiding my eyes.

"Thanks." I said dryly. My head was spinning, and I had no idea what to do now that I couldn't even get into my own house. We could break a window, but that'd give Scott, my stepdad, all the more reason to hate me. I finally closed my eyes and let my head hit the thick wood of the door, making it throb even more. "Ow."

"...come on. Get up, Eon. There might be another way in—"

I wished that she said that ten seconds earlier. Because just before my brain considered it, the door opened and I fell flat on my face in front of my mother's feet. She jumped back, startled by someone (nevertheless her own daughter) keeling over in her house like a drunk.

"E-Eon?" She kneeled beside me and peeled my face off the floor. I managed to sit up, but it didn't feel pleasant.

"Hi, Mom."

"What happened?" She looked at my face, and my new collection of colourful bruises (I could taste the rainbow), then to Ashirai, her eyes narrowing. "O-oh no...it couldn't be—"

"She was attacked by a griffin." Ashirai stepped inside, inspecting the now filthy Japanese rug I was sitting on. "I think you owe her an explanation, Mrs. Judith Conners."

I was surprised she knew my mother's name. It made me wonder just how much she knew about me; how long had she been watching me? Why? Seriously, was it her hobby to stalk kids? Weeeeiiiirrrd...

My mom was silent for the longest time. I'd only ever seen her this quiet whenever I asked her who my dad was, and it was unnerving to say the least. She finally pulled me up and led me into the kitchen. I sat down (read: melted) while she retreated into the bathroom, returning moments later with a first aid kit. No one spoke as she dabbed me with disinfectant and bandaged up my deeper gashes. Ashirai meanwhile made herself comfortable in Scott's La-Z-Boy recliner and treated her own wounds, coating the clean leather in slime, dirt and blood.

"I...don't know how to start." My mom finally whispered when she finished treating me. She placed her hands in her lap and looked down at my feet, lost for words. I wanted to help her out, but I had no idea how. It's a little hard to come up with a pick-me-up line for someone who hid a big foreboding secret for nearly twelve years, only for it to come back and nearly kill you in the span of an hour. She had to settle for an awkward shoulder pat. I'm not a motivational speaker. Heck, I'm not a motivational _thinker_. I'm apathetic, as well as (apparently) schizophrenic, dyslexic, ADHD positive, a "pyromaniac" and being overall weird. But who's counting all that (other than every psychiatrist, teacher and boss in the country)?

Ashirai finished wrapping some bandages around her hands and wrists, looking ready to punch out any more monsters that decided that we should be next on the menu. "Get on with it, Judith." She wasn't empathetic in the least for my mother. My panic level rose ten-fold.

My mom flinched at her words. She put her hand to her mouth as if holding back tears, but quickly looked me in the eyes, her own dry and serious.

"Your father, Eon...was...different." She managed, choosing her words carefully. She bit her lip softly before continuing. "He...he wasn't...h-human. He was a g-g-god. You are the ch-child of a m-mortal and a g-god..." She bowed her head and held her temples to avoid looking at me.

I stared at her, trying to figure out if she was joking or not. After a minute of silence and considering the fact that I had been attacked by the Colonel's Dream Dinner Special earlier, I decided it wasn't some sick joke made to make me look stupid for millions on TV (that's what this book is for). Instead, I asked the most logical question anyone put in my situation could possibly ask.

"Uhnwhaaa...?" Believe me, it sounded much more intelligent when I actually said it.

"You're a demigod, Eon "Ippikiookami."" Ashirai said, her voice a little less harsh than when she spoke to my mom, though I couldn't help but flinch at the way she so casually used my self-proclaimed last name. Just who was this girl? How or _why_ did she know so much about me? Did I miss something big between now and the past eleven years of my life? Wait, stupid question...

"You're half human, half god. A demigod, or half-blood, like me." She didn't look at me when she spoke, but I could tell right away that she wasn't lying. I mean, how many sixteen-year-olds do you know who could wield a magical demon scythe and conduct electricity at their will? If you limit it to just real-life, I can only say two. ...don't ask me questions you don't want to know the answer to.

"I'm...not human then...?" The words just slipped out of my mouth. It was a little hard to digest such sudden life-shattering info like this. Especially after your dog was just eaten by a mythical beast that apparently wasn't so mythical. Parents of half-bloods, if you're reading this right now, I strongly advise against it.

Seeing my completely flabbergasted look, Ashirai decided that now was as good a time as any to cheer me up. Unfortunately, as it turned out, she was positively atrocious at it. If you ever meet her, ask for a Hallmark card instead of a pep-talk. I can assure you that the generic "it'll get better soon" on any card is better than whatever she could come up with on the fly.

"You're half human, if that makes you feel any better."

"Tons." I croaked. I looked at my mom desperately for support, but she continued to evade eye-contact. That hurt more than finding out I really _wasn't_ normal. Was that the reason she was never there for me when I was younger? Why she favoured Cindy and Samuel (Scott's kids) over me? Because I wasn't the perfect kid she dreamed of having?

My eyes burned, begging to cry but I wouldn't let them. I wanted to ask her so badly why she never told me any of this, but I never had the chance. She suddenly looked at me, her blue eyes icy cold, reminding me of Ashirai's during the attack.

"You...were a mistake, Eon. I...I never...asked...for this..."

My heart broke. For a moment, I couldn't tell who I was. What was my name? How old was I? Why was I even here? I could only stare at the woman who had called herself my mother for almost twelve years as she got up and started away from me, as if nothing had happened.

That was it. I was disowned.

Ashirai got up without a sound. I hardly noticed her heading past me for my mom, but some instinct made me grab her arm. She paused, then looked down at me, her cerulean eyes blazing. It was obvious that she'd seen this before, if not been through it herself.

"No..." I managed quietly. I didn't know what Ashirai was intending to do to her, but I knew it wouldn't be good, whatever it was.

I stood shakily. Once I was sure my "demigod" stalker wasn't going to skin my mom alive, I limped past her to my room.

* * *

My room was the smallest room in the house (lucky me), but at least I didn't have to share it with anyone. It was nine by nine feet with a bench area from my solitary bay window. I have a bunk bed (though I've personally never had anyone over to USE it; so Aisu used to call top bunk...when she was still around...) and a large dresser-wardrobe crossbreed for my clothes and stuff. That cut down the actual room to move to an L-shaped three by four feet. Luckily for me, I'm not claustrophobic.

I tugged out my rolling backpack from under the bed and began to pack. I stuffed a few clothes in, nothing extravagant, just things worthy of Value Village's mention of honour and an old hoodie. I was hardly conscious of what I was doing, but I knew that I wouldn't be welcome back...not that I really ever _was_ to begin with. I threw in some chip bags and even a toothbrush. I rolled up my favourite blanket, a pillow stuffed inside, and jammed it in as well. My DS and a case of my favourite games went into the side pocket, a full water bottle next to it. I jumped when I finally noticed Ashirai leaning in the doorway, watching me unblinkingly like a cat.

"W-what?" I demanded, quickly turning away and packing up my iPod and chargers. They went into the tiny front compartment.

"So you're running away." She stated bluntly, stepping in and taking a seat on the bed.

"And if I am?" She didn't need to know how much the thought terrified me. Running away was one thing. Running away with the knowledge that there were monsters out there that wanted to kill me was another. I hardly even knew _why_ they wanted to kill me, or what being a half-blooded freak even _meant!_

"Where are you going to go?" I could feel her gaze burning into the back of my head. How would I know? It was hard enough deciding what I _needed_, let alone figuring out what I'd _do_!

"Dunno."

"You'll need money and food." She advised. There was a zipping sound and I heard her rooting through the bag. "Not bad choices, though I don't know why you want these contraptions..." I looked over my shoulder and saw her holding the DS and iPod.

"P-paws off!" I reached over to pry them away from her, but she was faster than I expected. She switched them into her other hand and flipped up onto her feet in one swift movement, sidestepping just in time for me to fall face-first onto the bed in a most undignified fashion.

"Cute." She tossed them back into my bag carelessly.

"Don't call me that." I growled as I pushed myself up, attempting to look a lot more intimidating than I felt. From the faint trace of a smirk on her lips, I could tell it wasn't working. So to save myself from looking like even more of a fool in front of this irritating stranger, I instead stood up and walked past her to the wardrobe. I tugged out an envelope from a hidden compartment on the side and pocketed it.

"What's that?" She was inspecting some of my posters when she asked, but it was obvious enough what she meant.

"Money."

"How much?"

"Why does that matter?"

She looked over her shoulder at me in a way that I can only describe as...old. Experienced, maybe.

"Because the life of a half-blood isn't cheap, girl." Her tone was stricter than I'd ever heard her use before. "Half-bloods die every day to monsters that catch them off-guard in the streets. As you are, you stand no chance against even the weakest of monsters. If you want to survive, you need to go where the monsters aren't. For that, you need cash."

"Tch..." Unwillingly, I pulled out the envelope and handed it to her. She opened it and looked in.

"Three hundred dollars?" She gave me a suspicious look.

"My mo—" I paused myself, hurt at the thought of the woman in the other room. "_SHE_ gave me money every month to buy games...so I don't 'turn my aggression on people,' or something like that... It's not like anything good comes out every month, so...I just kinda saved up."

Ashirai closed the envelope.

"It's a lot more than I expected a little girl capable of saving up..." She ignored my level nine death glare expertly, a feat only Aisu had mastered before her. I was impressed as well as depressed at the thought of my puppy. "But it won't do you much good in the other half of the world."

She dug into her jeans and tugged out a few golden coins. She tossed five of them to me, which I clumsily managed to catch.

"Those are gold drachmas," she explained as I turned one over in my hands, inspecting it in awe. "Those are the currency that the gods use, and what we'll need to get to Half-Blood Hill."

I pocketed the coins and looked up at her, my eyes narrowed.

"Wait, 'we?' Half-Blood Hill? Whooooa-whoa-whoa-WHOA!" I held up my hands for her to stop. "When did I ever say that I was going with _you_? I don't even _KNOW _you! I don't even why you know _ME! _How do I know I can trust you?"

Ashirai sighed and rubbed her temples.

"I suppose me saving you from a griffin, bringing you home safely and offering you money and a way to a safe place for a Half-Blood to stay isn't enough of a reason to trust me?" She stared at me evenly.

"Not when you know everything about me down to where I live and what I call myself! I'm not some celebrity, and I doubt that I'm the next Harry Potter, so why're you stalking me?"

Ashirai scowled and fingered her necklace. I automatically tensed. I really didn't want to face her and that creepy skull-scythe unarmed (not that it would've made much difference if I _had_ been armed, mind you).

"Look...I don't know everything about you, and you wouldn't believe me if I told you _why_ I know all this." Her expression changed a little when she said it. I think that it might've been...pained. The look was gone in a blink of an eye though. No. Literally. I blinked and she was scowling at me again. Jeeze...you'd think that I killed _her_ dog or something...

"Why wouldn't I?" I asked, ignoring her (possibly imagined) mood swing. "I saw a _griffin_, my dog was _blue_ and _TALKED_, and you made a scythe appear out of thin air. What's left for me to _not_ believe in other than pro wrestling being real?"

She gave me a sceptical look. "You really want to know, huh?"

I gave her my best 'no-freaking-duh' look.

She closed her eyes and rubbed her temples again.

"Alright, then. I will tell you what I can for now..." She finally said.

"Wait, what you can "for now"? Why not everything?" This was really starting to irritate me. Why was it so hard to just _say_ why you're following a minor home, offering them money and place to crash and what you want from them in exchange? ...Wait...don't answer that. I really don't want to know.

"Because you're not ready for everything yet."

"You sound like every clichéd story in the book!"

"But it's true." She persisted, crossing her arms and glaring down at me. If it wasn't for the fact that she was over a foot taller than me and looked like she could shut me up permanently in three seconds or less, I might've continued to argue. But I did the wise thing for once and shut up, taking a seat on the bed to listen.

"Better." Ashirai growled, leaning back against the wall. She closed her eyes and tilted her head up, looking relaxed for once. She was silent for a long time, tempting me to toss something at her to check if she was sleeping before her head suddenly twisted toward me and starred. For some reason, I couldn't move under her hawk-like stare. I couldn't breathe. It was like being face-to-face with a cougar. If you moved, it would jump you. Game over. I felt like there was an eerie, powerful aura drifting off her in waves, trying to smother me. To devour me. My lungs screamed for air, but I didn't dare take a breath under her strange, hypnotic eyes. I swear that I was starting to turn blue when she finally blinked, releasing me from my internal prison.

The air tasted so sweet as it filled my lungs once more. After I finished gasping and panting, I gave her the worst death glare that I could muster, but she only returned the favour. I cringed and looked down at my feet.

"A long time ago, I was given a prophecy from the Oracle of Delphi, and sent on a quest." She explained, already answering one of the questions forming in my head. "I cannot repeat the prophecy to you, but I can tell you that I was to find a certain person with certain...talents."

_Talents?_ I wondered, instantly thinking about juggling and acrobatics.

"I've spent years looking for this person, Eon. The person who fits in perfectly with my prophecy—the "Mockingbird"."

As soon as she said the word, I knew where this was going.

"You're kidding me." I finally mustered up the courage to look her in the eyes. Ignoring her intimidating stare, I continued, "I'm not a mockingbird. Sure, I'm a little...weird...but there's no way I'm what you're looking for, lady. Like, c'mon! There're billions of people out there! How can you just narrow it down to me?"

The intensity of her glare made me flinch.

"Don't you think I know that? You have no idea how long I've been searching for this "Mockingbird," girl!" I didn't like the way she acted so old. She'd been looking for what, six years maybe? Pft! "But _every_ part in my prophecy that refers to the "Mockingbird" adds up to _you! _One who is able to mimic voices perfectly? That talent is only common in Cyclopes', not half-bloods. Anderson told me about your talents, Eon." She pointed at my violin case sticking out from under the bed. "You can't read a line on musical sheets, yet can play a complex song perfectly after hearing it once. You can also imitate the sounds and voices of people you've heard almost flawlessly. How is that not like a mockingbird?"

"I don't have feathers." I answered grudgingly.

"How can you be in such denial after _thinking_ about it?" She was in my face in a flash and grabbed my shirt collar, dragging me up to her eye-level. My feet kicked and waved helplessly as I struggled against her strong grip. "You are the Mockingbird, Eon, and you will come to realise it, whether you like it or not."

"I'd rather not and no time soon." I choked out, then kicked her knee as hard as I could.

I think that I surprised her more than anything, because she dropped me and didn't look all too hurt. Shouldering my bag, I quickly scooped up the envelope in one hand and my violin case in the other and backed away from her to the door.

"You wouldn't last a week alone out there, girl. You need me."

"And I needed a mom too, but you saw how that turned out." She took a step toward me and I counted by stepping back again. There was no way that I was going to turn my back on her. She looked desperate, and after years of playing RPG's, I think I know a thing or two about prophecies...

"Hmph..." She tugged the chain from her neck and the blood drained from my face. She gripped it tightly, then paused, (thankfully) having second thoughts about using her ghoully friend on me. She watched me shift back another couple of paces before throwing it back around her neck. "Do what you want then, Eon." She crossed her arms in an attempt to look less threatening, but it really doesn't work when you're talking to a terrified eleven-year-old. "Run away from me like the terrified wolf you claim yourself to be. But you'll find it harder to survive out there than you think. Normal weapons can't hurt monsters, and you know no one else that will or can help you. Sooner or later, _you_ will come looking for _me_..."

"Thanks for the pep-talk, granny. I've only heard it a couple hundred times before." After retreating back a couple dozen more steps down the hall, I quickly pivoted and raced for the door. It was still wide-open from when we came in earlier, so I dashed out and across the street, ignoring my already throbbing legs. When I made it half way down the block, I gathered up all of my courage and turned back to face my house one last time. So many emotions filled me at the same time. Regret for leaving like this. Fear of what would come. Anger at my mom and Ashirai, who stood in the doorway, watching me until I disappeared around the corner.

* * *

My legs throbbed, my head was spinning, my stomach was growling, and I'd been gone for a grand total of two hours and thirty-seven minutes. The only thing that I could think of was 'Man, I suck at running away' as I trudged down unfamiliar roads. I was already too lost to know which way I had come from, or better yet, which way I was going. All I knew was that I needed to get some food in me, or I'd be as good as dead if a monster really _did_ show up.

After another six blocks I was about ready to give up on the thought of food as well. Cars passed me, not even bothering to take a second look at the hopelessly lost kid in the window, and only old shady houses and auto-repair stops reminded me that I was anywhere close to civilization. My stomach growled angrily again, so I finally leaned back against a link-chain fence in front of a rail cart drop-off station and sat down. I tugged out a bag of chips and devoured it without a second thought.

"This is so...stupid..." I muttered to myself, unable to banish Ashirai's warning from my head. I was completely lost, alone, with no place to stay, and no food (other than three more bags of chips). I was a sitting duck if I ran into a monster. RPG's made it look so easy...though most of the characters were older than me and had a weapon. All I could do now was run, and I was pretty sure that most monsters could catch up to a short, limping kid.

I ran my fingers through my hair, then tugged my silver bangs hard when the thought of accepting Ashirai's offer came to mind. There was _no _way that I could give up this easily. She wanted to make a bet? Bring it! A week would be nothing. All that I needed was some shelter. And food. And some sort of protection from monsters. Not that hard, right? ...right?

Pushing that aside, I looked up at the twilit sky. Summer was only starting, so I guessed I had another five hours or so until it was completely dark. That gave me more than enough time to scope out the area for somewhere to stay, and maybe something to eat as well.

I poked around for about an hour before literally stumbling across a narrow gap in the fence. My side stung as blood oozed out down my shirt from where the stray wires had cut into my ribs. I was _so_ glad that I got my tetanus shot this year...

I had to bend the wires out of the way to crawl through into the rail-yard, where I found that I hit the jackpot. Gigantic train carts littered the ground for what seemed like miles, and no one was around patrolling. That meant that I had the whole place to myself.

With so many to choose from, I decided to explore for a while, peeking into the carts curiously. Some looked like they hadn't been moved in years, while others still had their cargo in them. I left the latter alone, rather than risking getting caught.

I got so caught up in my mini-adventure that I hardly noticed the time passing until exhaustion started to tug my eyelids down. Looking at my watch, it was half past eleven. It only took me six hours to find a place to stay. Not bad. Now I only had another one hundred and sixty-two hours to go.

Rubbing my eyes, I looked around for one of the better carts that I found earlier, but everything looked the same in the red-orange glow of prairie twilight. Shrugging, I opened up the nearest cart and crawled in. I closed the door so only a crack remained open, just in case someone walked by me the next day, and pulled out my blanket and pillow.

I was asleep in an instant.

* * *

A loud cooing sound and a strong sour scent woke me some time past dawn. Groggily, I opened my eyes, coming face-to-face with a pigeon. After a brief moment of confusion, I bolted up, hugging the blanket close. My jaw then dropped when I saw that my cart had been invaded by a hundred or so pigeons, each staring at me with their beady little eyes. I swallowed nervously and slowly reached for my bag.

Now, it may sound strange for me to be afraid of something that's less than a tenth of my size, but I have a history with these birds. See, my mom and I lived in Japan after I was born. I guess that was to keep all the monsters away or something...but that doesn't include pigeons. Those little beasts are _everywhere_, and they don't care if you're a man, woman or child! One day we went to a temple on a field trip and these horrible creatures attacked me out of nowhere! I can remember the day as clearly as I remember the stitches needed from the wounds that their little copper beaks left on me.

Thinking back on that day though, it finally hit me. I looked down at the closest pigeon to me. Its heartless little eyes glared up at me, its bronze-coloured beak shining unnaturally in the sliver of morning light from the doorway. These were not normal pigeons. I don't know how I could've ever assumed that they were after the first time that they'd attacked me. The sour scent of their droppings stung my nose, and I got the impression that they were none-too-good either.

I gripped the strap of my bag and tugged it closer. The pigeons instantly responded by fluttering their feathers and cooing murderously. My heart thudded hard in my chest as I slowly managed to pull it onto my shoulder. The cooing became louder and clinking clicks thundered all over the cart as the metallic feathers flew off the excited birds and onto the metal bottom. I got onto one knee, ready to bolt. Some of the birds began to hop up into the air.

I dashed for the door.

All hell broke loose.

I screamed in terror as I clawed at the door, trying to pry it open. It seemed much heavier than it did last night, barely shifting when I put all of my weight into yanking it open enough for me to escape. The birds meanwhile flew into the air and began to dive-bomb me, their metal beaks and feathers cutting into my clothes and flesh.

I cried out in agony when I felt warm blood dribble out of my new wounds. In desperation, I threw myself against the cart door, smashing it back onto its hinge. Ducking under a few metal wings and taking even more to the face and shoulders, I pried the door open and jumped out of the cart, rolling under it and watching in astonishment as a hundred silver, white and even rust-coloured birds poured out and into the air, all circling above me like vultures over a kill.

_I am _so _dead now._ I realised, retreating even farther under the cart as a few brave birds dived under after me. With a shriek, I threw a fist and caught one in the neck, sending it spiralling out to its brethren. The other birds were forced to land and began to peck at my hands and chest. I howled in pain when one caught my pinkie-finger, then swatted at them wildly.

They seemed to dislike either my swatting or screaming. With furious cooing, the birds under the cart retreated back out and watched me angrily a good ten feet away. That gave me some time to breathe and think.

_Okay, Eon...metal pigeons...what do you do?_ I asked myself. _Call KFC?_ My answer wasn't reassuring. I was limited for options. These birds looked dangerous and hungry. They weren't going to stay out there forever.

My mind was reeling with all of the options that I had left. I could try to run to another cart and hide in it...but what good would that do me? I hadn't had a decent meal for over a _day!_ Sooner or later I'd either starve or come out for food, and how likely was it that one hundred flesh-eating birds with an attitude problem would all be gone looking for some bird seed?

_I have nothing._ The truth hurt. Maybe I should've listened to Ashirai. Maybe I should've gone with her. It was too late for that now though. I made my choice. I was alone with these monstrous birds, and I had to either get rid of them or get out of here, preferably in one piece.

My leg began to kick up and down in fear before slamming into the cart bottom, making me yelp in pain. I had to cover my ears and push myself to the ground from the vibrations and echo throughout the entire cart. It was like sitting right next to the stereo on max, being so close to it. When the vibrations stopped, I finally took my hands off my ears, shocked to be greeted by dead silence. Curiosity piqued, driving me to inch up and peek out from the cart, only to be greeted by one ticked off bird.

With a scream, I hid my face with my arm and waved my other hand wildly, cutting my knuckles on the razor-sharp feathers before smashing it into the side of the cart. The bird screeched in pain when the loud banging echo filled the air again, and fell to the ground, stunned. I realised then that this was my one chance at survival. The other birds hovered around the cart, not daring to get closer while the loud echoes filled the air. I quickly grabbed the stunned bird by the neck and smashed it against the cart again, adding even louder bangs to the vanishing echoes.

The birds squawked in pain and retreated a little bit farther, their eyes trained on me in a murderous glare. I quickly crawled out from under the cart, bird in hand, bag on my back, and raced to the next closest cart. I slammed that bird against the cart like it was a piñata. My head rang from the loud noises all around me, but I couldn't stop here. I raced to another cart and slammed the bird against it too. Then the next. I could swear that I was going deaf, and that the bird in my hand was turning into jelly. I kicked another cart and threw the bird at one more, falling to my knees with the world began to spin around me.

The birds were over a hundred feet in the air now, circling around randomly, as if having second thoughts about me now. When they saw me fall though, my sense of balance completely obliterated with the constant ringing in my ears, they knew that now was the time to strike.

I rolled onto my back, trying to not to lose my lunch, whenever I last had it. The world was spinning so hard that it took me a few moments to realise that the birds were diving toward me. The sound had stopped, but I could barely hear a thing as it was. I couldn't get up. I couldn't fight them. I could hardly think straight. Closing my eyes, I was ready for whatever came next. Faintly, I could make out the sound of a two hundred metal wings slicing through the air, coming toward me.

_Is this is it for me? Some "Mockingbird..." _Ashirai had to be wrong. People in prophecies can't die this easily...

"It looks like you could use a little help."

My eyes snapped open, but the world was blurry for me now. All that I could make out was someone standing over me. Someone tall and male.

"Bir...ds..." I tried to warn, but my voice cracked with exhaustion and pain.

"You did a pretty bang-up job up to now," the man chuckled at his pun, "but I'll take it from here." I could faintly make out him raising his arms toward the birds. Then there was a bright flash, so bright that I had to shut my eyes. Once the flash was gone, I smelt smoke. Possibly chicken too.

"Well, that wasn't too hard, now was it?" He asked, but I barely had the brain-power to answer. What happened? The birds...I couldn't hear them anymore. I cracked my eyes open, just to see a mass blur.

"Wh...a...t...?"

"Hush now." He ordered gently and picked me up carefully. I heard footsteps and yelling.

"What's going on here?" Another voice demanded, though I could barely hear it.

More footsteps and yelling. I guessed that the workers finally heard my ruckus. Thanks for nothing, losers. Seriously, good help was so hard to find nowadays.

The man said something, but I was too tired to listen. I closed my eyes and world went black.

* * *

When I opened my eyes, I was sitting shotgun in a fancy sports car. My head was still throbbing like mad, but my ears weren't ringing anymore. In fact, I could hear pop music playing from the radio clearly, as well as a man humming (rather off-tune) along with it.

I groaned when I turned my head to look at him. He was tall and blonde with a slight tan, and wore a fancy pair of shades over his eyes.

"Look who's up." He had a movie star's smile when he looked to me. How did he get his teeth so _white_? Teeth that clean weren't natural.

"Who...are...you?..." I croaked, my throat feeling like it hadn't been wet in months.

"Ah-ah. Drink first." He motioned the cup holder beside me with a McDonald's large pop cup in it.

Normally I wouldn't drink something as fizzy and sweet as a pop, but I was desperate to put something into my stomach by now. It felt like a black hole was eating away at it. Gingerly, I lifted the big cup with both hands and sucked on the straw, nearly dropping it when I tasted chocolate milk instead of pop. My hands twitched a bit as energy flowed through me for the first time in what felt like forever and I sipped on it enthusiastically, everything seeming clearer and brighter than ever.

"Whoa now, slow down. You don't want to drink that too fast. It's ambrosia nectar: drink of the gods. Too much at one time can kill you."

I instantly removed the straw from my lips and peeked under the lid. A golden liquid swirled slowly with the rhythm of the car. I closed the lid again.

"...Who are you?" I asked again, looking at the movie star more carefully. Was he a half-blood too?

"Who do you think?" He asked curiously, his eyes on the...not road?

I stared out the window in awe as we sailed over the clouds quickly, a golden trail of light following us. This definitely wasn't a normal sports car...and it was even less likely that this man was a normal human either...or even half-blood.

"Are you...a god?" I ventured nervously, gripping the cup a bit tighter.

"Bingo, you are right

But can you guess my name Eon,

Or do I need to tell you?"

After a few moments I realised that he had attempted a haiku...and failed at it...

"I...don't know much about gods...and...stuff..." I admitted, looking out the window again to hide my embarrassment. Some half-blood...even if I knew my father's name, it wouldn't do me any good.

"Ah, I see. You may call me Apollo, god of the Sun, poetry, medicine, music, archery..."

"That's a lot to be a god of..." I blurted out, then quickly took another sip of ambrosia to shut myself up.

Apollo only chuckled again, a musical sound to my surprise (or maybe not. For a god of music, he wasn't that great of a singer. Shoot, bad Eon! What if he can read your mind?).

"I suppose so, though I quite enjoy it." He admitted.

I sipped a bit more ambrosia before placing it back down.

"Where are we?" I asked, looking through the vaporous clouds to barely make out the ocean and land stretching ahead of us to the eye can see.

"Just approaching Canada now. You were out for an entire day. Your cochlea was ruptured and your semi-circular canals and saccule were extremely disoriented because of it, resulting in a disruption in your ability to balance." He explained, turning the wheel a bit to avoid an eagle. "You've been in here since, recovering."

"O-oh...I'm...sorry..." I had no idea what to say to a god that had not only saved me from a swarm of demonic pigeons, but had also healed me and kept me safe in the coolest ride I had ever seen. Although, his explanations could use a little work. What the heck was a cochlea?

"Don't sweat it, kiddo." He gave me another one of his movie star smiles. I nervously smiled back when my stomach let out a desperate growl. He chuckled again. "Why don't we get you something to eat before we continue?"

"Yes please." I had to use all of my will power not to drool at the thought of food.

* * *

I devoured my burger in under a minute. The fries went next.

Apollo sat across from me, waiting patiently for me to finish.

"Sooooo gooooood..." I finally leaned back in my seat, satisfied.

"Finished?" He asked politely.

"Yessir...erm...Mr. Apollo...sir?"

"Just Apollo is fine." He leaned on his interlaced fingers, elbows propped up on the table. "Now then, I suppose that you're wondering why I'm here, Eon." He tilted his head just enough for me to see his eyes. They were the colour of the sky, but had a strange, powerful aura in them, making me shiver.

"I guess..." Truth be told, I really didn't care anymore. I was safe (presumably), fed, and in a completely different province from Ashirai. What more could a girl ask for (besides a test drive in his sweet ride)?

He cocked an eyebrow humorously at me. I got the sinking feeling that he knew exactly how I felt.

"You guess? Then can you guess why I'm here?"

"Mn..." I rested my chin on fist and looked at him long and hard in thought. "Could it be...t-that you're..."

"Mm?"

I swallowed nervously. I didn't want to ask it. Somehow, I already knew the answer to my question. But the look that he gave me goaded me on.

"Are you...maybe...my...father?" I had to look away when the silence filled the air.

"I'm sorry." Apollo said after what seemed like hours. "I am not...but your father will send you a sign soon enough. You will be claimed."

I didn't know what "being claimed" meant, and frankly, I didn't really care either. Depression hung over me like rain cloud. The nicest, coolest (and only) god that I had ever met wasn't the man I dreamed of meeting just _once_ in my whole life.

"Why are you here then?" I asked, looking down at my empty plate.

"Among being the god of music, poetry, the Sun and archery, I am also the god of prophecies, Eon." I tensed. "You seem to be very popular with the Oracle..."

"Popular?" I squeaked.

"There is more than one prophecy connected to your fate. This is rather...rare occurrence."

I slid my face into my hands and drew it down, pulling my bangs through my stretched fingers.

"How many?"

"So far, two have been made. More are likely to follow with such an...interesting future." The answer stung. I took one hand from my face and played with my fork.

"What is going on?

Nothing makes sense anymore.

Someone help me please."

Apollo looked down at me with pity. "I apologize. I didn't mean to put so much pressure on you. Maybe this was too soon..."

I whimpered quietly and dropped the fork.

"What do I do?" I looked at him desperately. I was lost. I apparently had two prophecies made about me, neither of which I had even _heard_, with no idea of what to do next.

"The way that I see it...you have two choices." Apollo held up two fingers. "The first," he moved one finger down, "is to accept your fate and to get training at Half-Blood Hill."

"Mnnrgh..." I held onto my head again.

"And the second," Apollo closed his hand into a fist, "is to run away from your fate."

I blinked.

"Run away?" It sounded too easy to be true.

The god nodded solemnly.

"If you choose to run away, I can guide you to my sister. She will care for you." He explained.

"Your sister?"

"Artemis, the Goddess of maidens and hunting. She will protect you from your fate, if you so choose to abandon it."

I bit my lip hard, drawing blood.

"To run away, or to face it..." I repeated, unsure. If I accepted it, I could end up dead for all I knew. If I ran away though, I'd be nothing more than a coward, and I had no clue as to how it would affect anyone or anything. Tough choice.

"I...don't know." I finally admitted.

"I understand." Apollo stood and placed a coin on the table. "You will need to make your choice soon, Eon. Either the Hunters, or fate." He warned as he turned his back to me. I quickly stood, not wanting him to go. Not wanting to be alone again.

"Wait!" I cried and grabbed his arm, only for it to evaporate right before me.

I blinked, surprised, then noticed everyone in the diner staring at me. I could feel my cheeks turning red before I dashed out of the restaurant. His car wasn't in the parking lot.

"Great..." My voice cracked a bit. I was alone again. I was somewhere in Ontario with only three hundred dollars, a bag of clothes, a violin and iPod, and five golden coins. A cold wind blew over me and I shivered. I could feel my fate looming over me. Maybe running away was the best option...or at least until I knew what was going on.

I held my temples, trying to figure out what to do next. _He had said that his sister, Artemis, would protect me..._ I noted, trying to remember his exact words. _She's the goddess of maidens and...hunting...Hunters? _That was it.

"So...I'm looking for some hunters then?" I looked up at the sky, hoping for a sign, an answer, but nothing came. I don't know what I really expected, but it was all that I had to go on right now.

Next stop...the hunters, I guess...

* * *

Well, that was fun. I spent almost all weekend writing this. Turned out pretty well too, especially considering that the pigeons was a spur of the moment thing, not originally planned. I actually had to look up the parts of the ear that affected balance, since I forgot them from waaaaaaay back when I learned them. Whoopsie. XP

[Miffin Note: Pigeon tastes good. :D Apollo should've saved Eon some after he cooked them.]

Random note is that Miffin HATES pigeons...and in grade 8 (I believe), she drew a picture of Eon chewing on one. I have the picture still...odd.


	3. Chapter 3: I Have Psychedelic Dreams

Raagh...the date of the Percy Jackson movie release is here. I want to buy it just to BURN it...JEEZE, I hate it! =;; You have NO idea how much they screwed it up if you haven't seen it, or vice versa. Everyone should be freaking DEAD in Camp Half Blood! But no. ALL of Greek mythology has been screwed over because they FELT like it. Persephone isn't in the Underworld during the summer. You _**can't**_ see a god's true form or you turn to ash. Percy saw it freaking TWICE, and is still alive. Hades doesn't WANT more people in the Underworld. There's way too many as it IS! = .= Screw the people who thought making the movie this way was a good idea. It's not. You screwed yourSELVES over by already making Percy too OLD for the PROPHECY THAT THIS SERIES IS BASED ON, all to just put some lovey-dovey BULL CRAP in—which reminds me. They were GIVEN the Minotaur in UNDIES in the book, and they even managed to screw _that_ up. It wasn't funny like Percy Jackson is supposed to be. It was just stupid. Sorry for the rant, but it's STILL not out of my system. I thought that it was impossible to make a movie that was worse than Eragon, but they succeeded several times over.

(Miffin Note: Actually, they made a movie even worse than the Percy Jackson movie, although some people may disagree with me. Have any of you seen the pathetic excuse for an Avatar (the Last Airbender, not James Cameron's) movie? If you have, you know what I'm talking about).

* * *

Disclaimers:  
-The _Percy Jackson and the Olympians _series belongs to Rick Riordan.  
-Eon belongs to me. Don't take her or I'll sic Aisu on you...who is also mine.  
-Ashirai belongs to Worenx. Don't take her either.  
-Burger King and Totally Spies don't belong to me.  
-Tony refers to Tony the Tiger from Kellogg's Frosted Flakes. Not mine.

* * *

**NOTE!** The 'monster' that attacks Eon in this chapter is from an accident that occurred in Book Three: _The Titans Curse_. I just thought that it should reappear, since _they_ vanished after the book...just like Percy and Annabeth's grey hair streak. That book seems to be ignored a lot...  
朱: Is the kanji for aka, which means red/crimson in Japanese and 黒 means kuro, black.

* * *

-_**  
Chapter 3:  
I Have Some Psychedelic Dreams  
**_-

* * *

The room smelled like cigarettes, despite of the laws against them in public places. Guns lined the walls along with huge mounted animal heads. My stomach churned uncomfortably, either from the guns or the disgusting smoke fumes. Either way, I hated this place.

Slowly, cautiously, I approached the counter in the back. A chubby, albeit muscular man sat on a large solitary bar stool behind the counter, chewing mercilessly on a lit cigar. He looked _extremely _intimidating with all of his tattoos and bulging muscles; when his eyes turned to me though, his face contorted into a terrifying scowl and he mashed the cigar between his teeth like fresh meat. I had to use all of my willpower to approach the giant.

"No minors allowed." He growled. He reeked like smoke and I could see that all of his teeth were yellow or missing. He looked like a monster (figuratively...I hoped).

"I'm looking for hunters," I squeaked.

He sniffed and took a long drag from the cigar, exhaling out his nose. My eyes watered when the smoke blew past me, and I had to force myself not to cough or gag.

"Hunters here. There. Everywhere. No minors allowed. Shoo." His glare intensified.

I knew that I was already making a fool of myself just by being in this...place, but I was pretty limited for options. I could either find these "hunters" that Apollo had mentioned, or walk through three provinces in the slim and desperate hope of finding Ashirai, the one person that I did NOT want to see/crawl back to any time soon. Oh, and walking three provinces in Canada is like an Ironman tournament. Canada's not exactly _small._ That helped narrow down my options even more, since I had _so_ many to begin with. Hah, sarcasm. The weapon common to all kids and teens (and sadly, the only one I had at my disposal) in the world over.

"I need to find hunters." I met his glare with my own.

Seeing my unwavering determination, I must've gotten through to him. He finally stood up, walked around the counter, and literally kicked me out of his shop. I sailed through the air a good ten feet and slid another three across the grass. When I finally stopped, I learned that the gods really hate me, because it started to rain. I would've wondered how this day could possibly get any worse, but I knew by now that that would only jinx me. I needed all the luck I could get, which didn't seem in very high supply at the moment.

From the look of the clouds, I could tell that the rain wasn't going to let up any time soon, and being a rather short fan of staying dry, I hightailed it back down the road until I reached a cheap-looking motel. _Home sweet not home_, I thought when I opened up the door to my room and was greeted with the (un)pleasant scent of rotting wood and mildew. I shook out my hair and used a towel (that I wisely chose to buy) to dry off, then redressed in my final pair of clean clothes. After Apollo had ditched me in the Burger King parking lot _two days ago_, I'd been stuck in this place, budgeting my money to the best of my preteen ability. I would've been broke by now if I hadn't chosen to bring my iPod and violin with me. With my 'unique abilities' (as Ashirai would kindly put it...assuming that's even possible) of mimicking music and voices I hear, I managed to make a pretty penny in the subway station by singing and playing remixed versions of my playlist. Folks just love throwing their money at small children, y'know? Not that I was calling myself small, 'cause I wasn't. That means _you_.

So I had four hundred-some dollars and five golden coins to work with now. Great. Now what?

"Stupid rain...stupid hunters...stupid...stupidness..." I knew that I only had myself to blame for the situation I was in (and maybe Apollo for driving/flying me to the middle of nowhere, but it'd probably be best not to mention that to him...), but why would I do something stupid like that? Blaming others makes the world go 'round. Then maybe the sun helps out a bit too... Either way, I was determined to somehow find someone else to blame for the insane mess that I was in. Someone who hopefully wouldn't have the power to blast me into a million pieces, that is...

I lay down on the bed, listening to the patter of raindrops outside. It was a soothing sound, or as soothing as the sound of thousands of gallons of water rushing down from the heavens at a velocity that could crush someone in a large enough volume could get (maybe I forgot to mention that I don't like water?). Closing my eyes, I relaxed, and for the first time since I left home, I willingly let myself drift off to sleep.

* * *

It was cold and dark. I could smell salt water, though I wasn't sure why. Screwing up my eyes, I tried to see through the immense blackness that surrounded me, but to no avail. I started to walk, carefully feeling the ground until the sound of someone crying echoed around me. Pausing, I tried to pinpoint its direction, but it was like finding a needle in a haystack...with my ears. Finally I closed my eyes (though I realise now that it was rather pointless in doing so) and chose a direction at random, carefully feeling my way at double-pace.

The sobbing became louder, though I never seemed to get any closer to anyone.

"Hello?" I called, but only my voice echoed back at me. There was no reaction from my miserable mystery mourner.

It seemed like hours before the sobbing finally stopped, and my ears were grateful when it did. I looked around the darkness again, but still couldn't make out a thing. If someone really _was_ here, they either didn't want me to see them or forgot to pay the electrical bill.

"What did I do wrong? Why me?" The voice sniffled. It belonged to a girl, probably between the ages of ten and twelve.

"Try paying the bills on _time_! It's normally a lot _brighter_ then..."

"_You did nothing wrong..." _A new voice hissed, ignoring my comment. It drew my breath away; unlike the girl's voice, it wasn't very determinable. I couldn't tell if it was male or female, young or old, or even if it was _human_. My body started to tremble. I felt like I shouldn't be here...

"_The gods abandoned you. You gave them everything, and they give you nothing in return."_ I could imagine the voice circling the girl, slowly, like a predator closing in. _"Come...I will give you all that you ever dreamed of..."_

The girl was silent, but I knew that she'd already been drawn in by the strange seductive voice. _I_ felt like obeying it, and I didn't even know what it was! The gods had never given me anything until recently, and that was only a headache. Why should I care about some prophecies that I'd never even heard of?

"_All I need of you is one little favour..."_ Suddenly, I felt something icy-cold brushing up against me. On instinct I kicked and pivoted away, but nothing was there (that I could _see_, at least). Shivering, I realised that whatever this voice was, it wasn't only concentrating on the other girl. It knew that I was here. It knew that I already submitting to its will.

I shook my head, trying to clear it. I felt a little dizzy. What was going on with me? Where _was_ I?

"What...do you want me to do?" The girl asked timidly. I could imagine the faceless entity grinning. It had won one of us...that was all it cared for.

* * *

My eyes snapped open and I bolted up. My entire body was shaking. Sweat poured down my face in rivers and my heart crashed against my chest. I felt like I had gone ten rounds against the griffin again. Weakness throbbed in my every muscle.

"What...?" I swung my legs over the side of the bed, instantly regretting it. I had to bite my lip not to cry out from the sudden burst of pain. It felt as if I'd been running nonstop for hours. My calves and thighs burned, and my chest and lungs didn't feel all too hot either. "Urgh..." I forced myself to stand, supporting my weight by holding onto the bedpost. Carefully, I stretched out my cramped muscles until the throbbing almost completely disappeared. It took over twenty minutes.

_What was that?_ I'd _never_ woken up feeling like I was hit by a bus before...except for that one time that I was hit by a bicycle, but that's another story entirely. Why did I suddenly hurt now? Apollo had healed me after the demon pigeon invasion, and I hadn't seen a single monster since. So...was it the dream?

It was probable enough, considering how real it felt...though I hoped it wasn't true. I had _just_ found out that I was a half-blooded freak, for God—the gods' sakes! For all I knew, it could've had something to do with my prophecies...the thing I was trying to run _away_ from. Creepy nightmarish visions were the _last_ thing that I needed at a time like this.

"Alright..." I managed, looking out the window. The rain had stopped, but I had been out for longer than I thought. The sun had long since vanished and the moon was in full view. I'd slept the day away. There would be no money-making tonight, and I was pretty sure that I was too shaken to try sleeping again either.

After a hasty decision, I gathered up my hoody, blanket and pillow and jammed them into my bag. I pocketed the drachmas and cash and pulled out my snazzy griffin sunglasses from the side pocket. I hung them on my shirt collar. The violin case fit snugly into the bag and I zipped it up. I deemed everything else unnecessary for finding the hunters, so I left it behind.

I returned the key to the guy in charge and hit the road (well, more like I limped off—that dream had been a doozy). The lights soon vanished behind me and I was all alone in the dark. I tensed a little, then put on my shades.

Anyone who passed me would either think that I was blind or stupid. Personally, I thought that I had the coolest pair of shades in the world. Not only do they look stylish, they're _way_ more than just a normal pair of sunglasses. Everything was clear as day for me with the sungalsses on. They worked like night-vision goggles (possibly a sick pun from the gods), and the left dial on the edge made them work like binoculars, zooming in or out without ever looking any different outwardly. Spinning the right dial seemed to do nothing though; I had yet to figure that one out...

Hours passed before exhaustion hit me again like a freight train (or a bike. Don't laugh, those things _hurt_). My legs ached too much to go on, so I wandered away from the roadside to the edge of a small forest and leaned against a tree. When I realised just how tired I really was, I slid down to sit on the partially damp grass. I guess that vision-dreams take a lot more out of you than you'd expect.

My break lasted another half hour or so before I was hit with an idea, one that actually made sense for once. Instead of looking for people who knew hunters, why not check out the woods and find one myself? Hunters go into forests all the time, right? (As you can tell, I'm not much of a hunter...) The throbbing had subsided enough for me to move again, so instead of waiting until morning (a _logical_ idea), I stalked into the woods, ready to possibly meet my first hunter. Emphasis on possibly.

* * *

Remember how I _just_ mentioned that waiting until morning was a smarter idea? It was. I wasn't in there for ten minutes before it came at me. If not for my griffin glasses, I wouldn't have even noticed it at all. As it was, a fierce claw ripped into my shoulder, splattering blood everywhere. I screamed in agony and turned to the beast, clutching my ruined arm tightly as it starred me down, its golden eyes slit and locked onto my own. Slowly, it began to prowl around me, its feline grace making its pawsteps soundless. Its long copper tail brushed the ground silently in anticipation. I could smell the blood on its breath, it was so close.

Blood pulsed out of my wound, soaking my entire left side. It burned like a thousand daggers continuously stabbing into me at once, but I couldn't afford to concentrate on it right now. The giant cat continued to circle me, trying to get behind me for a finishing strike.

_Why does this always happen to me now?_ I couldn't help but wonder. I had no weapon, my left arm—my _good_ arm—was completely useless now, and I was face-to-face with a sabre-toothed tiger, something that I was _positive_ was supposed to be extinct. Just a demigod's luck, I suppose.

A low growl rumbled in the beast's throat. Two huge canine fangs hung out of its mouth, contributing to its glowering stare (I wondered if those were heavy—no, bad Eon! Worry about that later!). Its muscles tensed and I knew what was coming next. With a mighty roar, the king of the forest leaped into the air, claws aimed down for my face.

How did I counter my newfound foe, you ask? Simple: I panicked. What else could I do? A three hundred pound (extinct) cat with killer instincts, and deathly sharp fangs and claws was going to skin me alive and eat me. Or was it the other way around? Either way, I knew I was doomed. Since I really didn't have a lot of time for creativity in this sort of situation, I did the next best thing.

I screamed. Loudly.

I'm not sure how I managed it (luck, I guess) but before the tiger landed, I managed to dodge right below its belly. Its hind paws missed my nose by millimetres. Then it was time to panic again, because it had clearly decided that it wasn't done with me yet. With a snarl, the beast whipped a claw under itself, raking it up my back.

Well, as you could guess, that hurt. A _lot_. I'm not sure how I managed to stay conscious, but I'm certainly glad that I did. Unconscious, I'd be nothing more than a slightly pulpy pile of meow mix right now. Because of the angle of the claw though, my back wound wasn't deep enough to damage my spinal cord. That allowed me (with great difficulty) to dive out behind the tiger and race for the trees. The felid snarled its irritation, giving (a short) chase before pouncing, swatting me down onto my stomach and pinning my arms with its huge claws. I could feel its hot breath against my neck as it sniffed me. The tiger was too heavy to shake off, not to mention the claws digging painfully into my arms. I was completely helpless.

_What a LOVELY way to end off the day...and my life_. Man, I _still_ hadn't beaten that game that I had gotten last month!

It seemed satisfied that I'd be a decent midnight snack when it finished sniffing me. I could feel it jerk its body upwards for the killing strike, and hear the audible click of its canine fangs when it opened its mouth. Then the impossible happened. It roared loudly and staggered off me, both shocking and cutting me at the same time. Without a second thought, I ignored my now bleeding arms and pulled myself to my hands and knees, my left arm feeling numb from blood loss. My vision was doing loop-de-loops and I heard yelling and footsteps and more roaring. Gritting my teeth against the pain, I forced myself onto my feet and staggered to a tree, holding onto it tightly with my good arm for support. More yelling echoed around me. I could swear that someone was issuing orders, but I had no idea who, or if I was even still _alive_ at this point.

I shook my head a little to try to clear the dizziness. Everything had a lovely reddish-tinge now in my griffin glasses, though I wasn't sure if I'd taken a head wound during the confusion or if it was just the blood loss doing its thing. Either way, feeling safe (or as safe as I could get) for the moment, I took a look around. My jaw dropped, quickly followed by myself because I stupidly forgot to hold onto the tree.

"Ow..." I whimpered, though I barely felt anything other than constant throbbing pain by this point. I was more interested in the ten or so girls armed with longbows and daggers racing around the confused tiger. It snarled and dived at one of them, but she easily evaded and scored a long slash down its side. The beast howled in agony and clawed at another girl, just to be shot in the paw with a silver arrow. Did I mention that they were all about my age or teenagers? Wow, I needed to eat more protein or something. They had _skills_ (in my defence, I also had skills—just not the kind that would help me in a life-or-death situation, like this one).

"Alright, girls! Let's finish this!" A new voice barked above the snarling from somewhere behind me. With a grunt I turned toward it, and I was sure that I was dead.

Walking up to me, decked out in all black save for a silver circlet on her head, was Ashirai...but not. She had the same sky-blue eyes, black hair and gothic fashion sense, but her face was off a bit, and there was no red streak in her hair. She also looked like she smiled once every ten years because she didn't have Ashirai's "I hate the world" glare. Her T-shirt said "Death to Barbie".

"Are you alright?" The Ashirai clone asked, though it was quite clear to both of us that I was not. She looked me over for a second and bit her lip, somehow seeing how bad I really was for the first time in the half-light that the moon provided. I was afraid to even think about how bad I looked. It _felt_ bad enough. "Here," she knelt down and offered me her shoulder, but I inched back. Her eyebrow cocked and I heard a loud yelp and thud behind us.

"Oh god, not another one...or gods? Go—ah whatever..." I managed and collapsed onto my back. Thunder roared in the background. If the gods were mad at me, so be it. I'd apologize later. The girl was looking over me, concern on every inch of her face. My brain finally registered my position and an insanely powerful bolt of pain shot through me.

Then everything went black. Again.

* * *

The smell of old, musty air greeted my nose when I came to. I was lying on my back, but there was no pain. _Am I dead?_ There was no way to tell unless I opened my eyes, but I had no will to do so yet. It was oddly peaceful like this. Silence filled the air around me and I could smell the sweet scent of autumn grass. Out of curiosity, I twitched my fingers. Each responded, a good sign that I was in one piece, at the very least. My head shifted to the side and the dead grass poked into my cheek. _Time...to wake up..._ My eyes slid open slowly. Somehow I wasn't surprised to find myself in the middle of a field of black grass. Pushing myself up, I noticed that the sky also was cut off by a layer of stalactites and rock. I was underground. That only improved the likelihood that I was really dead.

I looked down at myself. Everything was in place, and strangely enough, I seemed to have no scars from Tony's grandpa up a floor. It was as if the fight never happened. Pft. I wished.

My attention then shifted back to my surroundings. The field stretched on to as far the eye could see, and seeing that nothing in this dreary place seemed all too worthwhile to do for an eternity, I started walking. I had no real destination in mind, but my legs continued on as if possessed. Every so often I heard bits and pieces of conversations all around me, but I never saw anyone. Only shadows. It was as if nothing ever existed here except for me...or maybe it was the opposite. I shivered at the thought.

I don't know how long it was, but I eventually found out where my legs were taking me. The grass shifted to rock and a huge rip in the earth lay before me, swallowing up what little light this strange place had. It was both terrifying and enticing at the same time. As I approached it, Greek symbols appeared in the stone around it. Though I couldn't read them, I knew that they were warnings. Hades, one of the few Greek gods that I knew of, didn't want anyone near this place; yet I was too fascinated to turn down my chance at seeing the inside of this beastly hole. What's the worst that could happen? An eternity of nothingness? Watching an eternal Totally Spies marathon was a _way_ worse fate.

I stepped up to the rim of the pit. The thing almost seemed _alive_; air was lightly sucked in, then regurgitated back out, blowing my hair around wildly. I couldn't explain it, but I could somehow sense a cold malevolence coming from within the depths of the hole's gut. It looked like someone else had decided to take a dive into here after all. I guess I was the rotten egg.

I jumped.

Complete and utter darkness surrounded me. I heard voices: yelling, crying, howling, swearing, whispering...but I couldn't tell where they were. The only thing that I could tell at all was that I was plummeting down at a breakneck pace, but I wasn't even sure what direction I was going. Everything seemed wild and confused in this place. One minute I could swear I was going down, then the next I was heading left. It felt kind of like I was sky diving, only with no parachute. If there really _was_ a bottom to this place, I'd very likely go splat.

After a while, I began to grow accustomed to my new surroundings. It wasn't like there was much to learn. Darkness enveloped me entirely. Every so often I'd shoot another direction, and confused voices echoed all around me, though the voices never seemed to be intended for anyone in particular. That was, at least, until _it_ spoke to me.

"_A peculiar choice, child..." _The strange voice from my vision-dream hissed into my ear. Lazily, I tried swatting it away. _"You choose the darkness over the light. Why?"_ No good.

I thought about it, but nothing came to me. Why _did_ I jump? It wasn't as if I gained anything from it, and I'm pretty sure that I still had the entirety of the Underworld to explore. So...why?

"Dunno..." I murmured, shifting my arms behind my neck and my leg over my knee. It wasn't worth brooding over.

"_Is this what you truly wish for?"_

I grimaced. What I wished for? What kind of question was that?

"Dunno." I repeated, "Had no plans, got no plans."

The voice was silent for a moment. _"Your apathy is astounding. You hide from your fate instead of becoming the hero that you are meant to be. You ignore your own potential for lazy, selfish desires."_ It hurt a bit to be scolded by something that could very well be a figment of my overactive imagination. That didn't make it any less true though. Truth be told, apathy was the one of the only things that I was ever good at, save for mimicking sounds. Having ADHD was my excuse. If I couldn't concentrate on something for longer than ten minutes, why waste energy? _"You have the courage to leap into the darkest depths of Hell, yet not the will to find your way back out. Beings much stronger than you have been trapped here for an eternity, yet you who are capable of exiting selfishly use this place as an escape from your troubles, even after all of the sacrifices made to get you this far."_

My stomach churned painfully as the memory of Aisu resurfaced. I grit my teeth hard, not wanting to give in, not wanting to allow the voice to win me over so easily, but it was impossibly hard when it knew what buttons to press. Did that girl make a sacrifice for me too, just like my little Aisu? How many others had?

"Then what...do you _suggest_ I do?" Like a sixth sense, I could _feel_ the bodiless entity ripple around me, excited to have finally won. Of anything, I could imagine the Cheshire cat's grin on its faceless lips. It rippled some more and wrapped around me like a protective cocoon. My body tensed, ready to fight off this..._thing_ if it tried anything funny, but being completely blinded and it having no actual form made that plan a little...useless. There was a shifting feeling in the current again, but I felt the entity tug me away from it, guiding me elsewhere.

A little buzz ran through my chest when light appeared in the distance. As we got closer, I found out that the voice had no intention of actually leading me _outside_, like I had assumed it would. Instead, it had brought me to an ancient stone room surrounded by twelve obelisks, each holding a torch. The entity dropped me on the floor and swished around me and the flames, though never seeming to get very close to the center of the room; it was brighter there than all of the torches combined. I had to shield my eyes when I looked at it, but I could make out six short pillars surrounding a seventh, slightly taller one. Floating above each pillar, save for one, was a glowing sphere. Clockwise, the pillars held: the missing orb, black, purple, green, blue, yellow and crimson in the middle. It didn't take a rocket scientist to tell me why I was here. This was a test for me. One of these spheres was mine, but which one?

"So...you gonna tell me which one to take or not?" The voice remained silent, though I could sense it shivering with anticipation. Just what _were_ these orbs? Why did they glow like that, and what did they do?

The voice was going to give me no help though; its silence made that clear. I wasn't even sure if it knew the answer to my question itself. With a sigh, I approached the pillars, shading my eyes from the intensity of the light. Once I was closer, I noticed that the orbs weren't the same size. The center orb was the largest, just smaller than a bowling ball, and the size of the others diminished in the clockwise pattern, black being the second largest and yellow the smallest. I assumed that whatever colour the missing sphere was, it was either equal to or slightly smaller than the crimson.

I circled the pillars once out of curiosity. Nothing really stood out about them other than a few Greek symbols etched into each, though I had no idea what they said. I think it said something like "eat dirt" or "I waz here"; some crap like that. I stopped in front of the purple orb's pedestal and stepped up to it. I could hear a strange ringing sound in the back of my head but ignored it. Slowly, I cupped my hands around the orb, only to find out the hard way that purple had an attitude problem. Energy surged up from the orb and blasted me clear across the room. I landed hard on my backside and called the entity a rather rude word in Japanese before getting back up and trudging back to the pillars. So if I chose the wrong colour, I'd be blasted. Lovely.

"You could've _mentioned_ that to me _before_ I chose one..." I growled at the voice. It shivered and shifted around the obelisks some more. Maybe I was imagining it, but I think that it was _glad_ that I didn't get the purple one...

So I chose the blue one next. The ringing returned in my ears and I paused this time, my hand hovering over the orb. After a brief moment of hesitation, I backed off and moved for the green. The buzzing returned, stronger than the blue, but weaker than the purple. I assumed that the strength of the buzz determined the strength of the blast. Either way, that was three down. My eyes shifted to the yellow.

The entity shivered again when my hand approached the yellow orb. There was no buzzing in my ears, and I think that it noticed that too. It began to shake and ripple more, as if irritated at me for some reason. I was about to demand what its problem was when a powerful shock came from the orb and blasted me away again. My bodiless friend calmed down when I sat up. What was its deal? I walked back to the pillars.

Only two spheres remained now: black and crimson. An icy claw gripped my gut. The colours were foreboding, and they were a lot bigger than the other orbs. Getting shocked by one of these would be no picnic...

"朱, 黒...朱, 黒..." I mumbled to myself. My eyes shifted between the two orbs. Slowly, I reached out for the black orb, only to have a beehive attack my eardrums. My hand retreated instantly and I looked back to the entity. "It's not black...is it?" There was no response. With no other spheres left, I stepped up to the center pillar.

My breath caught in my chest when I looked into the orb. Crimson light washed over my entire body, making me look like I'd bathed in blood. The thought sickened me, and I wanted to turn away, to reject it, but I knew that the entity would never allow it. I could feel it shivering, goading me on in its speechless way. It wanted me to take this orb. It had wanted it to be taken all along. Nothing else mattered but this one sphere. ...Why?

My hands trembled when they cupped around it. There was no buzzing. In fact, it felt kind of nice. It had a warm, welcoming feeling, like a hug. This thing truly was mine, whatever it was. All I had to do was take it back...

I finally poured all of my courage into my fingers and grabbed the orb.

As soon as my hands touched it, it dropped, filling the dip in the center of the pillar perfectly. Heat began to pour into it as I tried to tug it out of the hole, but this thing was _way _heavier than a bowling ball. After finding that pulling it out wasn't going to work, I forced my foot against the stone side of the pillar and yanked with all my might. Slowly, it began to shift toward me until there was a light "plup" sound. Then it came rolling into me, smashing into my chest and winding me.

"Mrng...this is about time when—" Just on cue, the room began to shake violently. The obelisks shuttered and collapsed, their torches extinguishing with their defeat. I had a weird feeling in my gut when I watched the final one shatter when it met the ground, its torch spinning off into the darkness that nibbled on the edge of the room. Either I was going to lose my lunch, or I'd better get away from central pillars.

I decided to go with the latter.

Crawling and rolling from the weight of the orb, I took cover near the final fallen torch-bearer, just in time to watch in fascination as a huge crimson beam shot out from the central pillar. Around it, the remaining five spheres glowed brightly and spiralled up after the flare, a trail of light in their respective colours racing after them. Tears came to my eyes from the brightness of the light show, but I couldn't look away. Whatever I had released, it was the coolest thing that I had ever seen in my life.

The room settled when the light show vanished. A faint red glow came from the red sphere in my lap, the only source of light left in the room. It was no longer enough to see passed my hands and the obelisk that I was perched on.

"There...I have it..." I glared over at the voice.

"_Well done..."_ It shifted around me slowly. _"So it begins..."_

"What begins—_UHCK_!" I grabbed my chest when a powerful burst of energy ran through it. Tears stung my eyes, begging me to cry. "W-what the—!" Another burst ran through me, more powerful than the last. I closed my eyes tightly and hugged onto the sphere, hoping it would sooth the pain. That was when I noticed that there was something wrong with it...

My eyes snapped open and stared at the orb. The glow was getting weaker and weaker, and it was beginning to lose its form.

"W-_what_?" Another shock came and I gasped for air. I grabbed the orb and shook it desperately. "Don't go! Don't _go!_" It didn't want to listen. The glow faded entirely and the darkness surrounded me again. "_STUPID DISCOUNT SPHERE!_" I cried when it shattered in my hands, shards falling away into nothingness. Another shock attacked my chest.

* * *

Shorter than I would've hoped…most of my chapters are around the 16-page mark, but this one is only 10, skipping rants, notes and disclaimers. That's still decent enough to make a chapter though…

This chapter was actually originally intended to be a MUCH longer chapter, combining this chapter with the next, but quite a bit happens between the two, so I split it up for everyone's convenience…especially Miffin's…she'd hit me if I gave her a 30-page chapter to edit… *Hides*

(Miffin Note: No offense, but I _do not_ want to edit another 40+ page chapter again)

So…hope you liked it, and you know the drill! R&R please! Thanks you, pukos!


	4. Chapter 4: I Meet A Really Hot Chick

Well, I split chapter 3 into two parts because it was getting pretty long, and I really couldn't split it up any other way… This chapter is about 20 pages, but it's better than all the _short _stuff I keep writing! So here we are! Chapter 4! Yay!

* * *

Chapter Rant! I FINALLY found the time to start reading The Lost Hero this week. And...you know those books that you start reading and you can't put down until you're done? This isn't one of those books for me. Percy Jackson was. Soooo...yeah... Not bad, but not very good either. The amnesia card has been played too many times before. We do not need to see it _again _now. Also, sadly, a number of plot devices seem to overlap with my plan for this little series...such as Eon's power (though her reason for having it is actually more interesting and unique), who the "bad guy" is in the series and so on. I'm not very far in the book yet, but this is just what I see... So yeah...Just mentioning that I did NOT take these ideas from THIS book. I had this planned out this summer; before the book was even out/before I even started reading it.

Miffin Note: I actually found The Lost Hero to be pretty entertaining. It's not as funny as the first series, true, but I am excited for the next book. The camp idea has piqued my interest (if you haven't read to the end of the book, then you probably don't know what I'm talking about yet).

Also, you might want to remember that Rick Riordan is being paid for his ideas. You are not. Unfortunately.

* * *

Disclaimer:  
-_Percy Jackson and the Olympians_ belongs to Rick Riordan. Not me. Thank you.  
-Eon is mine. Don't take her  
-Ashirai is Worenx's. Don't take her too!  
-Artemis belongs to no one, but all maidens belong to her. Think twice about that, boys...  
-Disney's Hercules doesn't belong to me. I just like the movie (as wrong as the mythology is).  
-Harry Potter, and more specifically the "Knight Bus" belong to J.K. Rowling.

* * *

**NOTES!**  
-THE TITLE OF THIS CHAPTER IS A _**GAG**_. YOU WILL UNDERSTAND IT BY THE END!  
-Again, "Tony's Grandpa" refers to the sabre-toothed tiger  
-Eon uses music to help make her decisions; I won't look up any of the artists for these songs to give credit to though. I like their songs and don't own them. I despise _all_ music otherwise, so let's leave it at that. I'll only name artists I know offhand. Which is like...two.  
-Doubt & Trust was one of the Openings of D. Grey-man. I think it was my favourite D.G-M OP.  
-Revolution is the closing for Slayers: Revolution; lyrics work and it's my favourite song to boot~

* * *

-  
_**Chapter 4: I Meet a Really Hot Chick**_  
-

* * *

"_WHAAAUUUUGGHHHHH!"_ I bolted up, smashing my head into something hard. "AGH!" Pain flooded throughout me, mainly from my chest, shoulder, back and head...especially my head. Grabbing my aching skull with my good hand, I peeked down at myself, blushing instantly. My shirt was missing (not that it really mattered with my lack of…yeah, you get it, but that's not the point here!). The only thing covering my chest was an array of bandages, a smoking handprint burnt into the center. And in my experience, that wasn't normally a very good sign...

"Aaghh..." A girl moaned in front of me. She was rubbing her own head, her hand sparking wildly in her hair as if the entire world's supply of static electricity was attacking her skull at once. Our eyes shifted up simultaneously and I yelped, shocked (pun unintended) when they met the Ashirai clone's. She _electrocuted_ me? Now that's just inexcusable (not to mention _rude!_).

When she noticed me, Sparky opened her mouth but I didn't give her a chance (who _would_?). Sweeping my good hand across the floor, I found a long stick and held it up, ready to defend myself.

"D-don't move! I have a—" It was then that I noticed the thin string drawing the top and bottom of the stick into an arch. Great. I had just grabbed her bow. "I—have a bow and I _don't _know how to use it! Back off or I'll end up p'owning the both of us!" I shook it experimentally and managed to whip the back of my own head somehow. Master of weapons, I am not. You should see what I can do with a spatula. "Oooowww..."

"H-hey, calm down!" She held up her hands to show she was unarmed. As considerate as the sentiment was, it would've been _much_ more reassuring if _**her**__**hand was not still sparking wildly**_.

"Calm down? Why should I calm down? Your hand is _sparking_. _HOW CAN I CALM DOWN?_" The fear that my perception of the difference between reality and fiction shattering and combining into some magic mushroom-induced Wonderland was really starting to freak me out. I _think_ that I'm allowed a mental breakdown or two after the whacky week I've been through to this point...don't you?

Blinking, the girl looked to her hand.

"Oh, right, sorry," her hand went out and I just stared, completely lost for words (for once). Okay, monsters and gods existing? Check. That's fine with me. Random sparking body parts? _That_ would take some getting used to…unless I really _was_ just on some mushrooms or fumes or something...

"See now? Calm down. You've been unconscious for a day, and your heart stopped. I just revived you."

"My heart...stopped? ...mn..." Well, as much as I _wanted_ to, I couldn't really argue with that considering how vivid my (mis)adventure in the Underworld was, so I lowered the bow (not that it would've helped me much anyway). "So...I was dead."

"For a few minutes, technically, yes..."

"...the Underworld needs more colour. It's boring as hell down there."

My bland statement and indifferent expression earned me a smirk. "That it does."

I rubbed my head again and took a look around me for the first time. A silver-white tent composed of animal pelts surrounded us. I was sitting on a soft mattress, and a warm furry blanket covered my feet. It looked like my neighbour's Chihuahua (ha, that's what you get for biting me!). The entrance was closed off, so I had no idea where I was (not that it'd do me much good anyway, thanks to a certain Sun god).

I was interrupted by a stinging pain that pulsed down my back, and it dawned on me that I should check on my_self_ as well. Sneaking a peek at my arms, I could only make out a faint trace of dried blood where the tiger had got me. No scars. Everything else seemed to be in place as well, and the pain that remained was nothing compared to what it should've been.

Interesting... Someone, most likely a god, had decided to heal me.

I was starting to get pretty popular with the immortals (I'll sign autographs later, fans).

Seeing my inspection, the girl asked, "Are you feeling alright? That tiger did a number on you..."

"My back and shoulder stings, and my head's pounding, but other than that I think that I'm pretty hunky-dory for someone who just fought a sabre-toothed tiger unarmed." I flexed my almost inexistent bicep. "Y'know, wearing it down for you guys and all."

"I see..." Ashirai MKII plopped down in front of me. "I don't suppose you'll tell me _why_ you were hunting it then?"

"I think it's more the other way around, but feel free to look at it in a way that makes me look slightly more sane." I liked this girl. She looked like she had a sense of humour, unlike another certain blue-eyed, black-haired and punk-clothed girl I knew. I _swear_ these two could be sisters! "As for why, I was told by a certain someone to find "hunters," and long story short, I'm here now. So. Are you a hunter?"

"Depends on what you mean by 'hunter'. We might or might not be what you're looking for." She fiddled with her bow a bit. A mischievous glint was in her eyes; she wanted more info, and wouldn't tell me a thing unless I spilled the beans.

I groaned and rubbed my temples. "Lesse...uh...that guy said..." I had to really rack my brains to remember what Apollo had actually said back then. Even if it was only three or so days ago, it felt like eons (ha, I'm so funny) with so many things going on at once. I was now apparently a half-blood, though I had no idea who my dad was (not that it'd make much of a difference to me anyway). Monsters apparently _do_ exist and one ate my dog. I was apparently a mistake and my own mother disowned me (fantastic parenting, _Mom_). I apparently had two prophecies about me already, both of which I hadn't even heard _once_ and was likely to multiply into more. I apparently died and visited the underworld and released something from there, but I had no idea what or if that was just some psychedelic, blood loss-induced dream. _And_ I apparently had to choose between going with some weird stalker-girl or going with these 'hunter' people (it's so good to know that I was loved). That's a lot of 'apparently'-s for one week. "...that he could...guide me to his sister aaand..." A thought occurred to me. "Dammit Apollo! BAKA! BAKABAKA_BAKA_!"

My sudden outburst gained my punk-clothed 'friend's' interest. She looked up from her bow to me, her eyes as sharp as a hawk's. It reminded me of Ashirai, but I was too ticked to be nervous right now. "You _said_ you would _lead_ me here and you _ABANDON_ me in a parking lot and let me become an over-sized scratching post? Just _how_ do you _consider_ that _leading_ me _ANYWHERE!_" I had to take a few deep breaths to calm down. After my flat look returned to my face, I said, "As crazy as it sounds, Apollo told me to find his sister Ar...Ara...Aura...Aaaaa—I dunno her name. Some god—er—god...dess?"

"Artemis? The goddess of maidens and hunting."

"Yeah her—a_ha_! So am I in the right place—or do I need _another_ near-death experience this week to have _any_ idea if I'm on the right track? Because between you and me, pain and me aren't very good friends. We're both rather sick of each other already...or at least _I_ am." I rubbed my injured shoulder to emphasize my point. It was stiff and I could feel dried blood completely coating it under the bandages. That wouldn't be fun to clean off.

The girl's expression changed from curious to serious. "Come with me. I'll bring you to Lady Artemis." She stood up and grabbed a shirt from a chest and tossed it at me. After it was on, she helped me up and led me out of the tent.

The morning sun stung my eyes. We were in a large clearing surrounded by pine trees...though that made no sense. There weren't any pines in the forest that I was attacked in. Just where _were_ we? Did these 'hunter' people _carry_ me to an entirely different forest?

Besides asking the logical question of 'how is that even humanly possibly, I was thinking, _wow, these guys—girls are tough..._

Tents identical to the one I had awakened in littered the clearing (in a matter of seconds I was twice as lost as before). Girls ranging from about ten to eighteen were patrolling, eating breakfast, or just gossiping. Though they hid it well, I could feel their eyes shift to us as we passed. The hair on the back of my neck stood on end, and I tried to ignore it. That was a little impossible though after years of torture following the initial 'scope out the weird kid then attack' phase. Samuel and Cindy had only made it worse for me during the past two years by spreading horrible rumours about me at school. As you could guess, I was on my toes...quite literally (that probably didn't help with the staring...).

One brave girl finally stepped up in front of the clone, stopping us. She wore a pair of black ripped jeans and a large white T-shirt with some logo I didn't recognise on the chest, which I assumed was to get people to recognise her womanly assets: AKA, her huge honking honkers. By the look of her, I'd say she was about sixteen to seventeen. She towered over us like a giant. Well, she towered over _me_ mostly. Why was I so short?

"Who's the new girl, Thalia?" She asked, her voice gruffer than I expected. Her eyes locked onto me hungrily, and quite frankly, I was terrified of her. _One_ stalker was enough, thank you! And sadly, she seemed like the closest thing to an 'adult' I'd find in this place.

"Dunno. Didn't ask her name." Thalia answered back coolly. Then she brushed a black bang out of her eyes and glared up at her, her blue eyes cold as ice. "So if you'll excuse us, Jesse, she has business with Lady Artemis. We'd appreciate it if you moved out of the way."

Before Jesse could react, Thalia whipped her hand out and stabbed two fingers at her collarbone. There was a flash and Jesse stumbled back, out of the way. Thalia quickly grabbed my hand and stalked past the giant as she recovered from the shock. A quiet murmur echoed around us, but I didn't dare look back at Jesse.

"I'm sorry you had to see that." Thalia murmured, releasing my hand when we were a good distance away.

"Should I even ask what that was about?" I cocked an eyebrow at her. I think that it's safe to assume that even in the life of a demigod, it's not normal to see someone electrocute another like that...unless they're _really_ good friends, that is.

Thalia bit her lip.

"You see, I'm considered Artemis' second-in-command, in a way. I organize the Hunters when she's not around, and lead most of the hunts."

"Okay...and?"

Thalia jammed her hands into her pockets. "Jesse just doesn't like that, I guess. She thinks that Artemis is playing favourites—I mean, I was chosen over Jesse when the previous Lieutenant died." She paused and looked down, a pained look clouding her face before continuing. "She's been a part of the Hunters a lot longer than I have, so she believes that she can lead the Hunters better than me. As of late, she's been undermining my authority. She's even been trying to turn some of the Hunters against me."

"Oh..." Wasn't that lovely? Jesse probably just wanted to use me. I felt like this would become a reoccurring theme in my life from now on. Step right up, one slightly damaged preteen for half-price, today only!

We stopped outside of a tent larger than the rest. That tipped me off that the head honcho, AKA Artemis, stayed here. And the fact that it almost seemed to shine in the morning sun. Loud bickering voices boomed from inside of the tent like thunder. One of those voices I was positive I'd heard before... That also tipped me off (as you can see, I'm quite the detective.).

"This is Lady Artemis's tent, but I think that we should-!" Thalia barely had time to reach for my arm when I charged passed her and into the tent. It was quite roomy inside, though rather empty by my standards. A few tusks, antlers and pelts hung on the walls (one pair eerily resembling the fangs of Tony's Grandpa) and two mattresses were on the ground, one of which was already occupied by a pure-white deer. I cocked my eyebrow at it, and I could've sworn it returned the favour when Thalia raced in after me, grabbing my arm so tightly that I started to worry it might come off.

"_What do you think you're doing?" _She hissed. In response I pointed (with my free arm mind you, as any movement in the other would likely result in her tearing it off) at the two arguing figures a number of paces away.

"She could have lost her _head!_" The younger of the two hissed. She looked to be about my age, maybe a bit younger. Her hair was silver, like my own, but shorter and braided back out of the way. She glared at the man before her with eerie silver eyes, as if hoping to melt him.

The man held his hands up, trying to calm the girl. He had short blonde hair and was wearing a pair of sunglasses, like a movie star. I also glared at him with the intensity of the sun.

"I know, I know, it was a mistake, Artemis—"

"A _mistake_? You leaving a defenceless maiden alone in _this _kind of world was a _mistake?_" The girl looked like she'd lose her head if no one stepped in soon, and seeing as any movement would likely result in another trip to the godly ER, I decided to do the rational thing instead of literal (for once).

"_URRHERRMROOOHHMM!_" I coughed over-dramatically. Both figures turned towards me at once. I swear their eyes could've burned the flesh right off me..._not_ my best plan ever, I assure you.

"I-I'm sorry, Lady Artemis!" Thalia stammered politely, pointedly giving the movie star—Apollo—a glare before yanking me down into a bow.

"_Ooooooow!_" I hissed. At this point I was wondering how much money it'd be to get a robotic limb. At the strength Thalia was squeezing my arm at, it would be green and gross in ten minutes (Which wouldn't be so bad, so long as I got a Megaman X buster-arm in exchange).

"_Can it!_" Thalia growled back, pulling me back up slowly. She looked back to the goddess, "She entered before I could stop her—"

"It's alright, Thalia." Artemis waved it off. "We were just talking about her anyway." With that, Thalia finally released my arm, and I couldn't help but give a silent prayer of thanks to Artemis. The goddess' eyes glistened and she looked to me, a small grin spread across her lips. It was then that realised that she had actually _heard_ the prayer. Well, that was rather embarrassing...

I looked away from the gods, trying to recover from the embarrassment. "No kidding..." I grumbled, only to receiving a painful elbow to the gut. Grunting, I gave the demigod beside me a glare before looking back to Artemis and Apollo. "So ,what's up?" I asked casually, having absolutely no idea how formal to be when talking to a god. I mean, you hear people acting formal and all to them all the time, but weren't these gods also our parents? I couldn't imagine talking to my dad as if he'd sent me to military school for the past seven years of my life. So when in doubt, I decided, casual it is. How different could they be from us anyway? Other than being able to grant miracles on a daily basis, having shape-changing powers, controlling the elements and being able to turn us to ash in an instant if they wanted to, they were exactly like us, right? ...You know what, forget that last comment. Bottom line, casual was just more my style.

"We were just talking about your...unfortunate arrival here." Artemis said slowly, glaring at her brother again. "How you were nearly _killed_ by a sabre-toothed tiger."

Apollo sighed again. "Look, I said I was sorry!" He tried, one hand on his hip and the other rubbing his temples.

"Not to me..." I received another elbow to the gut. I could feel the bruise already forming.

Apollo rolled his head to look back at me from his sister.

"Yeah, sorry about that kid. Guess I jumped the gun a bit, thinking you could handle yourself already." Was that sarcasm in his voice? I swear he was making fun of me, the—

"She just learned she was a demigod, Apollo! You're the most irresponsible god I know! She could be _dead!_ THEN what would happen!" Artemis hissed. Thunder roared in the distance and I shivered. If you asked me, the gods _really _needed to go to anger management classes if they could call up storms just from getting ticked. As it was, Artemis was two seconds away from either pile-driving Apollo or having a stroke.

"Artemis, please." Apollo almost begged, but Artemis's glare became worse and she yelled something in Greek at him. He responded, just as tiredly as before, and the argument went on like that for a while. I guess even godly siblings fight like normal human kids sometimes. But as the thunder roared on, and the clear sound of hail hitting the ground appeared outside the tent, I decided that it was time to try to stop the fireworks.

"Uh...can I call a time out?" I ventured. They didn't react, their Greek argument becoming even more heated as the thuds became louder outside. "Alright ENOUGH!"

Everyone in the room stopped what they were doing and stared at me. That included two gods, one electric demigod, and a pure-white deer. I crossed my fingers behind my back for what I was about to say next. If I was lucky, I'd be only _partially _melted.

"Alright, good! Look, I'm in one piece, okay? Apollo, you _suck_ at giving directions and leading little kids to safety. Let's leave it at that. Now can we _please_ move on to something that involves a _little_ less hail and Greek? Like why I'm here, what this "prophecy" is and why there is a deer staring at me?" The deer looked taken aback and sniffed indignantly, turning its back to me on its mattress. Every bone in my body itched to poke it now.

Artemis cleared her throat and stepped away from Apollo. The sound of hail vanished entirely outside, surprisingly not surprising me (surprise!). Apollo rubbed the back of his neck and turned toward me at last, giving me a thankful wink for stopping his sister's rage. I gave him my best 'this isn't over' look when he finally spoke.

"Yes...why you're here..." He glanced at Artemis then back to me. "Artemis is the goddess of maidens, Eon. That means that in a sense, you're in her jurisdiction. I have already told you that two prophecies have been made about you, and that you had two choices: to accept your fate and do it, as dangerous as it is, or to hide from your fate. I...tried," he glanced back to Artemis, "to bring you here so you could make your choice once and for all. If you choose to hide from your fate, there is no safer place than here."

Artemis stepped towards me. "As a Huntress, you'll be granted immortality, so long as you are not taken down in battle or fall in love with a man. You will never be alone, and will be trained in the art of hunting by myself and your sisters." She nodded to Thalia when she said 'sisters'. "I can assure you that you will be safe, and every day will hold a new adventure for you." Her smile was reassuring and genuine, but something in her eyes stopped me from automatically saying yes. She knew something else that she wasn't telling me. It made my stomach churn uncomfortably.

"What...is the prophecy about?" The words were out of my mouth before I could stop myself. The godly siblings looked at each other simultaneously, their expressions darkening.

"We can't tell you that." Artemis finally sighed, stepping over to the deer and stroking its head gently.

"Why not? Aren't they _for_ me? How'm I supposed to decide if I don't know what I'm supposed to do!" My hands balled into fists angrily. This was asinine! I was _eleven,_ for the gods' sakes! I needed to know!

"Your decision affects the world's state, Eon. If you knew the entire prophecy and its meaning beforehand, you would try to change it, and that always ends in disaster. That is just the way of a hero." Apollo stated gravely, his golden eyes looking over the rims of his sunglasses at me.

I had to look away. The intensity of stare was enough. I didn't need to be blinded too.

Slowly, my hands unfurled and I jammed them into my pockets. They weren't going to tell me the prophecy unless I said yes, and that was final.

"Can I...have a day to think about it then?" My voice was barely above a whisper. Truth be told, I was a little scared. Two big-wig gods were in front of me right now, reminding me that the whole world apparently depended on my decision. What if agreeing to these prophecies meant destroying the world? What if staying here made it worse? There were too many possibilities, and my little eleven-year-old mind was having trouble taking it all in. Good thing the Japanese have a tradition of sending under-aged children on perilous quests to save the world on a regular basis, or my head would have imploded already.

Artemis pursed her lips and looked to Apollo. Her sibling shrugged, leaving the choice up to her (though he probably just didn't want to be yelled at again).

"Very well..." the goddess finally conceded after a minute of thought. "But by dawn tomorrow, you must tell me your decision. We move out straight after."

"T-thank you..." I hesitated, then bowed what I hoped was a polite bow before backing out of the tent.

My feet led me through the clearing as my mind reeled between my options. It was possibly the only time in my life (at least up to that point) that I didn't notice or care who watched me as I passed, hissing things behind my back. I had bigger things to worry about. Should I stay here with these "Hunters," or go with Ashirai (wherever she may _be_)? You have_ no _idea how much I craved to know those prophecies right now…It would've made things _so_ much easier.

I had already found my way out of the Hunter's camp by time I came too and noticed my surroundings. Thick pines and other forest-y plants extended around me as far as I could see…which really wasn't all that far since so many of them obstructed my view. Looking over my shoulder and seeing nothing but forest, I noted that I was decidedly lost. That was always a great thing to know.

"Uuuugh…" I couldn't help but growl, kicking the nearest shrub angrily. "Can anything _else_ go wrong this week?"

"Probably; it's an unfortunate problem for Half-Bloods." I made a mix between a terrified squeal and hiccup and spun around to see Jesse leaning against a pine, a longbow over her shoulder. She gave me a toothy grin and a lazy wave. "What brings you out here? I thought you had business with Artemis."

"I…did, I guess…" Had she followed me? There were no dead animals around her to prove she was here by chance…

"You guess?" The gigantess cocked an eyebrow. "What were you two talking about?"

Now don't get me wrong; I know the rules you learn as a little kid. "Don't talk to strangers" was one of first things I learned too, and even without that, I didn't want to tell this girl anything. But the way she looked at me, her little brown eyes scanning me for any weakness, and her hand firmly placed on her dagger sheathe scared me.

"If I should stay here or not." Fear made me blurt it out, and I mentally kicked myself _hard_.

"Oooh…so you're thinking of becoming a Huntress, huh?" Jesse stepped up to me, an eerie grin on her face. She put her hand over my shoulder like we'd just become best friends. "What's there to think about then? We look after our own. Hell, I'll even train you myself!" In an instant she flicked her hunting dagger up and caught it by the razor sharp tip, making me flinch. There was no doubt in my mind now that she was trying to get her way through my fear.

"I _really_ don't need this right now…" I shook her arm off of me and stepped away from her. She didn't seem to like that though. Her grin vanished and she stood up straight, towering over me again.

"Why not?" It sounded almost like a growl to me, like she was trying to intimidate me into obedience.

I _really_ didn't like that, so drawing on all of my courage, I glared up at the Amazon.

"Because I don't like being used," I hissed, "and I have more important things to worry about than some _Godzilla _with control issues that can't take a hint!"

"G…_Godzilla_?" Jesse's face gained a hint of red, and it wasn't from embarrassment.

"What? That doesn't describe you enough? How about King Kong then, you big ugly ape!"

Maybe it wasn't my _best_ idea to insult such a big girl holding a sharp knife either… Because Jesse's face turned bright red and a vein wrinkled its way out of her ticked off face. With a howl that I could only describe as terrifying, she flung herself at me, hitting me into a tree and smacking me in the side of the face with the hilt of her knife. I don't even think she _noticed_ the knife was backwards, she was that mad (I _think _this is why she didn't get promoted when Artemis's lieutenant-person passed away).

Crying out in pain and sheer terror, I tried to hit her off of me with poor results.

"_I'll show you what Godzilla can do, you little %$#$!_" She drew back her arm, flipping the knife around in her hand so the tip faced me. My blood turned to ice at the sight of the gold-plated edge. Some part of me, probably my godly half, felt sick as it approached. That was no ordinary gold…

"_HELP!"_

The edge of the dagger ripped through the bark of the tree next to my cheek, drawing blood. Jesse stumbled away and someone grabbed me by the shoulder and yanked me toward them.

"You need to start thinking things through, you dolt." Ashirai growled, pulling me behind herself protectively. Slowly, she started spinning her demon scythe, ready for action. I was never so happy to be insulted in my life.

"Where'd you come from? I thought you were still in Alberta!"

The black-haired, red-banged demigod chanced a look at me. "You really thought I'd lose track of you after all the time it took me to _find _you?" She looked back to Jesse and my heart sunk. Couldn't she have at least _lied_ about a different reason than that? You know? Like "I missed you?" or "You owe me fifty bucks?" Wait, maybe not the last one.

Jesse recovered a number of paces away, the red evaporating from her face. In fact, her face seemed to drain of all colour when she noticed Ashirai. Her mouth was half open in surprise and she stared for almost a minute.

"You..." She finally breathed, a devilish smirk crawling onto her face. "I thought you'd be dead by now."

Ashirai tensed. The scythe ceased to spin for a moment as she looked Jesse up and down.

"I guess neither of us've changed much then." She said, flicking the scythe forward so the skull's purple eyeless sockets faced Jesse.

"Hmph." Jesse ignored the creepy scythe 'staring' at her, "I bet Artemis will be _sooo_ pleased to see her little sister returning to her after all this time." The smirk grew even more devilish.

Now it was Ashirai's turn for the colour to drain from her face.

"Wha..._sister_?" I threw in the towel. I had no idea how these two knew each other, but they did and didn't seem to be the best of friends to boot. It was time for some answers. "What's she talking about?"

"Oh, don't you know? Ashirai here is Artemis's sister...or half sister, really. They had the same father...Zeus. Just like Thalia." Jesse lowered her bow to the ground and leaned on it, her head resting on the top. That thing was pretty strong to support that monster of a girl.

"You _what_?" I gawked at Ashirai, but she looked just as confused as I was.

"Thalia? Who's Thalia?" Her icy eyes glared at Jesse, demanding an answer.

"Ooh ho, you've been out of the loop for quite some time, haven't you?" Jesse asked, seeming to enjoy drawing out her time just to irritate the shorter demigod. "She's just who I said. Another daughter of Zeus, and our new lieutenant to boot. Artemis's new favourite." She hissed the last three words venomously.

Ashirai's eyes narrowed. Her face held a mixture of sorrow, pain, anger and confusion. "Artemis does not play favourites." She hissed back to the gigantess. "If this Thalia is your leader, it's because she earned it. No other reason."

"Hmph." Jesse stared down her nose at Ashirai. "That's just what you'd expect a _former_ Hunter to say." She stood up straight again and lifted the bow over her shoulder. Turning her back to us, she growled, "Chew on that, you runt." She then looked over her shoulder at Ashirai. "As for you...Artemis still hasn't forgotten what you did. You'd best get lost soon if you want to stay in one piece." And with that, she vanished through the trees.

Ashirai and I remained silent for almost ten minutes, the scythe-wielder staring off at where Jesse had vanished as if she'd held all of life's secrets, and me staring at her, hoping she'd snap out of it before a bear came along. The hunting knife was still lodged deep in the tree trunk beside her, so I decided to pass the time by trying to yank the thing out. It would be best to have _some_ sort of weapon, even if I had to return it when I got back to their camp. The stupid thing was stubborn though and barely shifted a millimetre, try as I might. So I eventually gave up.

"Hey. You still awake?" I waved my hand in Ashirai's face and she finally blinked. Her cerulean eyes shifted down to me.

"W-what?" She croaked. Was that _fear_ in her voice?

"You know Artemis?" Even if this question was too soon, I didn't care. If this stalker wanted my help, I wanted answers first.

Ashirai choked and looked away, digging the hilt of her scythe into the ground lightly as she did so. "As she said...we're...technically sisters..." She almost whispered. "My father is Zeus..."

"Isn't that a good thing?" I thought back to Disney's Hercules. Zeus was the top god, wasn't he?

"Mmmrnn...being a child of the Big Three isn't always so great...lots...is expected of you. Besides, after World War Two, they made a pact to stop having children...I don't know how or _why_ he had Thalia then..."

"Who're the Big Three?"

"Zeus, Poseidon and Hades." It was like I broke her. I almost felt bad asking her these things. Almost.

"You were a Hunter?"

"Huntress..." She corrected, bowing her head more so her red bangs covered her eyes. "But I...I quit..."

"You _quit_? Why?"

Ashirai's eyes shifted up slowly, meeting my own. They were watery, as if she were about to cry but refusing to allow herself to. "I used her...I used Artemis to withstand time...to meet _you_! To fulfill my prophecy! To finish my quest!"

"W-withstan—"

"You have no idea how old I really am, Eon...when I was ten, I was given the Prophecy of the Mockingbird. I was born when the gods still ruled over ancient Greece. Before they even _cared_ about the Western hemisphere! Back before they even knew that there was a Western hemisphere! And I knew from the Prophecy that you wouldn't be born anytime soon...so I became a Huntress: a Hunter of Artemis. I became immortal to wait for you...but you never appeared. I waited millennia...until I finally had a sign. Then I quit. I left the Hunters and travelled to Las Vegas. I waited over seventy years in the Lotus Hotel, a place that also halts the flow of time, until the final sign came. And I tracked you down. It took me ten years to find you." She looked down at herself. "I was physically twelve when I found the Lotus Hotel. Time has yet to catch up to me. My body is maybe fifteen now?"

If there's a way to react after hearing a story like that, I don't know it. What was my own reaction, you ask? I took my iPod out of my pocket and stuck its buds in my ears. Flicking on Shuffle, Doubt & Trust blasted into my ears, happily releasing me momentarily from this awkward moment. What was I supposed to do, hug her? She'd probably chop off my arms if I tried.

Ashirai stared at me incredulously, her normal self slowly returning. Without any warning she swept her foot along the ground in a 360, catching my ankle and pulling it from under me. With a perfectly audible _THUD_, I landed on my back with a groan and the stupid Shuffle-Shake feature in the iPod skipped to Revolution. The electric demigod glared down at me, her scythe's blade lightly hooked around my ribcage.

"I tell you all that, and all you do is _ignore_ me and listen to your stupid music?" She pulled the scythe a bit, angling it perfectly to pinch my side.

"_OW_, and no, O Mighty Thor Reaper. I use music to make decisions when they're too hard! _YOU_ try deciding between the apparent safety of strangers or going to who _knows_ where with an even stranger stranger!" The pinching stopped and Ashirai withdrew her scythe. In a flash it was her chain necklace again.

"Don't call me Thor. That's what Norwegians call my father." She kneeled beside me and tugged one of the buds out of my ear. Curiously, she held it up to her own, flinching at the sound of Megumi Hayashibara's voice. "Garbage." She growled, tossing the bud onto my stomach and leaning against a tree. There she reattached the necklace around her neck.

"It's not garbage! This one's like the best song _ever_!" I argued, but the insanely old not-so-ninny ignored me. With an irritated snort, I began to sing along to the song, mimicking Megumi's just to tick her off.

"Akireru hodo kurikaeshite

Yatto deaeru kiseki mo aru no

Riaru na koto yamadzumi demo

Nige ha shinai kakure mo shinai

Aserazu ikou jibun no michi wo"

Ashirai shook her head. "And you claim you're no mockingbird." She placed an arm over her knee, looking to the iPod. "What's that even mean? Gibberish?"

"There are also miracles where

We repeat to a shocking extent, then can finally meet

Even I've got a huge mound of real problems

I won't run, nor will I hide

I'll walk my own way of life without rushing it" I translated roughly, looking sidelong at her. "I think it fits you pretty well."

"Hmph." She didn't seem to agree. Oh well.

I finally sat up and brushed some of the dirt and muck from my hair. Looking at the orange-splashed sky, I guessed it was about six-ish. I stood up. Ashirai scrambled up quickly as well, her eyes glued to me.

"Where're you going?" She asked suspiciously.

"To the Hunter's camp." I answered lazily, then started for where Jesse had vanished. That was my best bet for their camp.

"W-what?" She stumbled after me, notably shaken. "Why're you going _there_ of all places?"

"Because I made a deal with Artemis! _DUH!_ She gave me a day to choose what I'd do. Stay with her or go with you. So I'm going." I continued walking, ducking under a low-hanging branch and jumping over a dead log. I felt like I was in one of those old-school video games. Except with 90% more real and 10% less game. Reality sucks.

Ashirai stopped dead in her tracks. She was pale and looked like she wanted to hurl.

"I...my quest..." She whispered, looking at the ground in shock.

"What're you _waiting_ for? Come ON! Don't you want to see your sister?" Silence met my question. So I took that as a yes and walked back to her, grabbing her arm and yanking. Grudgingly her feet started moving, but her face held a mixture of confusion and pain in it. Skirting around behind her, I began to push, which proved to be a much more reliable mode of transport for the girl. We moved faster but the presence of the camp eluded us. After a half hour of walking (possibly in circles for all I knew), I was positive we really _were_ lost.

"_WHERE_ is that stupid camp?" I yelled to the sky, hoping that Apollo or at least _someone_ would hear me. A minute of silence passed and I began really hating that so-called sun god. At least I learned _one_ new thing out of this: my father was definitely _not_ the god of direction.

I heard a thud in front of me and looked from the sky to Ashirai, who was holding Jesse's hunting knife one-handed. Besides being humiliated with my obvious lack of upper body strength, I was annoyed to see that we really _had_ circled around somehow.

"That's just _perfect_..." I leaned against a tree and rubbed my arms. It was already beginning to get cold, and my bag and extra clothes were somewhere in the Huntress's camp. Why does life hate half-bloods so much?

"Here." Ashirai placed the dagger in my palm and curled my fingers around it. "It's a pretty good fit." She sounded surprised as she shifted my arm and pulled it into a thrust.

"What's that supposed to mean?" I pulled my arm from her and tried a slash myself. It felt weird, but I decided it'd probably be best to got used to it if this was going to be my only means of defence.

"It means you're a shrimp and—!" Ashirai dived into me and we crashed into the ground, rolling under a prickly bush.

"A-AAHH! HEY!"

"_SHH!_" She grabbed the dagger from me and jumped out, her eyes narrowed and glaring up into the branches of a tree. "Who are you and what do you want?"

I heard leaves rustling and the thump of someone dropping to the ground. Pulling myself through the bush I peeked out, just to see Thalia step out from behind a tree, an arrow knocked and her bow drawn back and aimed at Ashirai. Uh oh...

"I could be asking you the same thing." She drew the bowstring back another inch. "Now drop the dagger and get away from Eon." The look in her eyes sent shivers down my spine. She was serious.

"Forget it, Huntress." Ashirai hissed, and before I could react, Thalia actually _fired_ at her.

"_NO!_" I squealed, yanking myself up, but Ashirai hardly needed me to step in. Flicking her wrist forward, the arrow smashed into the dagger and ricocheted off it, flying into the tree behind Thalia. The Huntress's Lieutenant flinched, her eyes shifting from Ashirai to me as she tried to comprehend what had just happened. I guessed it wasn't every day she saw someone deflect an arrow like that.

"Stop! Don't fight!" I turned to Ashirai, "This is _Thalia_, Ashirai. Y'know? The person Jesse talked about?" Ashirai cocked an eyebrow at me and looked back to Thalia.

"Her?" She threw the dagger to the ground (where I hastily picked it back up) and took a few steps toward Thalia, her expression changing from suspicion to surprise. "The Mist... Yes...there's no doubt..." Her eyes moved up to meet Thalia's and a weak, almost unsure smile came to her lips. "You're...a daughter of Zeus as well..."

"A-as well?" Shock overtook Thalia's face. "No no _no_. _You're _a daughter of Zeus?" Ashirai nodded weakly. "That's not possible." Thalia shook her head. "I'm Zeus's only half-blooded child."

Ashirai looked torn. "That may be for the best then..." She almost whimpered, and then turned to me. "Go back with her...Just...be careful." Turning her back to me again, she started away. I grabbed her shoulder.

"Nuh uh. You're coming with us. Come on, Sparky." I looked to Thalia. "We need to see Artemis. _Now._"

Without another word, she led us out of the forest and back to the Hunter's camp.

The sun had sunk behind the trees when we arrived at the Hunter's camp, casting shadows everywhere. Ashirai had become skittish, and she jumped at the smallest sound, her eyes flicking everywhere.

"Will you just _calm down_?" She was beginning to annoy me. It wasn't like Artemis would actually _kill_ her...right?

"M-mmn..." She took a deep breath and looked to the ground. That was the closest I'd get to 'relaxed' from her.

"This way." Thalia led us back through the camp to Artemis's tent, ignoring all of the girls we passed. A number of them were staring at Ashirai in shock. They must've known her from waaaaaay back in her youth, only four thousand-some years ago. Maybe they were wondering how she kept her skin so wrinkle-free. Too bad for them Ashirai would never tell them her skin-care secrets.

Thalia stopped outside the silver tent. It was glittering in the moonlight, but as cool as it was, I knew that I didn't have the time to waste staring at it. Grabbing Ashirai's hand before she could resist, I pushed my way through the flap and stepped in.

"W-wait—!" Ashirai yelped. She stopped dead in her tracks when her eyes met Artemis's. The goddess's eyes narrowed as she looked between Ashirai, me, and Thalia who entered silently after us.

"Why have you returned here? You _left_ the Hunters. You are _dead_ to me. You should have _remained_ so!" Thunder boomed overhead. She didn't sound very happy to see her little sister.

"I-I...I..."

"I brought her here." I drew Artemis's attention from the dumbstruck Ashirai. "She wants my help for her quest-thingy. So I wanted her to be here when I made my decision."

"That foolish quest..." Gradually the thundering stopped as Artemis calmed. She shook her head. "What is your choice then, child?" It felt really weird hearing the ten-year-old Artemis call me "child." She gave Ashirai a small knowing grin, like she knew my answer already. The poor demigod looked like she wanted to curl up and die. At least it wasn't me this time.

Contemplating on waiting for dramatic effect, I decided against it. I'd already made two stupid 'plans' today. I _really _didn't need another one backfiring in my face.

"I'm going with Ashirai."

Dead silence met my ears. Artemis, Thalia, Ashirai and even the deer stared at me in shock. Finally it was Ashirai who was the first to react. She wrapped her arms around me and gave me a bear hug so tight I had trouble breathing.

"Thank you! Oh thank you! I knew you'd come to! You _had_ to!" Her voice was choked with emotion.

"_WHY_ do you want to go with her?" Artemis demanded. There was a flash of lightning outside and a loud thunderous boom. "She will betray you as she did me! She only wishes to _use_ you!"

"I know." Ashirai's grip slackened at Artemis's words, and I used the moment to escape her powerful arms. "That's why I have some conditions." The scythe-wielder pulled back and looked down at me, slightly pained.

"What are your conditions then?" Her tone made it clear that she would comply as much as she could.

"Okay, first, I'm not saying I'll help you yet. I don't know _your_ prophecy or my own, so I can't trust you. I want proof I'm the one you say I am, and to _hear_ the prophecy for myself!"

"Hnnm..." Ashirai closed her eyes in thought. "Alright," she agreed, "but not here. When we get to Camp Half-Blood, I'll take you to the Camp Director and we'll talk."

"Fine. Next, if I _do_ help you, I'm not guaranteeing any results. I don't even know _how_ to quest...unless it involves collecting random items and holding them over your head with a "_duh-na-na-naaaaah_~" sound and going into monster infested dungeons to solve unnecessarily difficult puzzles."

"...Other than the...sound you just made, that pretty much sums up most quests." Thalia said, hiding a smirk behind her hand.

"Third, I can call you Ashi."

"Ashi...?"

"Yeah. Ashirai's too long to say all the time. Ashi's shorter and sounds more buddy-buddy. Besides, it's not like I can call you Ms. Zappy-Zappy-Goth-Stalker. People would think that you're weird."

"Al...right." Ashi agreed hesitantly. The poor kid seemed like she spent the past for_ever_ without any friends (then again it'd be a little hard to have any if they kept dying off every hundred years or so). That said, if I was going to survive this road trip, she'd need to lighten up.

"Good. Finally, you can do anything of that weird stuff you're always doing."

"W-weird stuff? Like what?"

"Y'know. Like picking your teeth with your scythe. It... just ain't normal..." I shrugged and gave an over-the-top exasperated sigh.

Ashirai caught on, a small grin pulling at her lips. "How's it not normal? Normal people pick their teeth"

"Yeah, with FLOSS."

"Does the same job. Besides, you can't kill someone with _FLOSS_!" Ashirai was smiling now, and the mood in the tent had lifted. Even Artemis seemed like she was less likely to blast her former handmaiden to bits. Or at least the thundering had stopped outside.

"You can if you try hard enough."

"People do in mafia movies!" Thalia put in, trying not to laugh.

"THAT'S PIANO WIRE!" Ashirai announced.

"Oh yeah? Well _normal people_ don't carry around magic neck-chains that turn into scythes!" I pointed at her necklace.

"They should really start to then. It's good for the teeth _and_ a fight." Ashirai rubbed her own chain.

"_FINE._" I 'conceded,' "You can keep the chain. But that's it."

"Good, 'cause I'm not losing it. Now let's get your stuff and go." Ashirai turned for the exit.

"Wait." We both paused and looked back to Artemis. Her eyes were glued to Ashirai, but slowly shifted to me. "I can't trust her, not after what she did. So I ask you to take Thalia with you. She will keep my...sister in her place." She growled "sister" with distain.

Thalia stiffened, though I wasn't sure if it was from being volunteered for this 'mission' or hearing Artemis admit that Ashirai was in fact their sister.

"B-But Artemis, what about the Hunters!" She asked.

"Jesse can take over in your stead." She held up her hand to stop Thalia from protesting. "I believe that it is best this way. You will keep Ashirai in her place, and Jesse will get the taste of power she has been craving for centuries."

Thalia looked unconvinced, but grudgingly nodded. "Yes, Artemis…"

Artemis looked back to me. "At Camp Half-Blood, you may stay in my cabin until you are claimed."

"Um…T-thanks, Artemis." I had no idea what she meant, or what this "Camp Half-Blood" place even was, but I wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth.

"Alright...let's go." Ashi murmured, quickly vanishing outside of the tent. Thalia and I followed suit.

Against Thalia's advice, we left camp as soon as I got my bag. It was dark in an hour.

"Great. Now we're easy targets for monsters." Thalia grumbled, trudging behind Ashi.

"We need to get to camp as soon as possible." Ashirai reasoned.

"What good will it do us if we get to camp _dead_?" Thalia glared at her sister.

"You know we can take on any monster native to this area."

"What about Eon?"

I was holding the hunting dagger in front of me with both hands. My knuckles were white from my grip on it. I knew that I wouldn't be able to help them in a fight, but holding the dagger put me slightly more at ease. With it, I could stab a monster in the nose before it ripped me to shreds. Maybe.

Ashirai left the question to hang, instead saying, "I will protect her."

"Yay." I croaked. To make myself useful, I had put my Griffin glasses on and charged myself with watching our surroundings. So far the biggest thing I saw moving was Ashirai. I wasn't sure if I should've been thankful or not.

"How are we even going to _get_ to Camp Half-Blood then?" Thalia stepped up and grabbed Ashi's shoulder. "Walking to Long Island will take _days!"_

"Oh, we don't need to worry about that." Ashirai smirked and kicked through a thick shrub, emerging from it on the side of a highway. Thalia and I followed her to the edge of the road.

The scythe-wielder fished into her pocket and drew out three golden coins, just like the ones she gave me at home.

"Drachmas?" Thalia cocked an eyebrow. "What're those for?"

"Calling our ride." Ashi answered and tossed all three into the air at once. She then slashed her hand down in front of herself, and with a flash, three white bolts of lightning collided with the drachmas. Light erupted from the coins and I had to shut my eyes from the intensity of Ashi's light show. It was like a disco ball mixed with a laser show underwater.

The coins continued to hover as the lights continued to dance around. Ashirai crossed her arms smugly and watched the road, clearly expecting some company soon. I _really_ hoped it wasn't a monster. I was relieved to hear the sound of tires crunching gravel and watch as headlights flickered into view. Moments later the coins dropped to the ground and rolled to Ashi's feet like a pet of some sort as a large Grey Hound bus pulled up. The bus's side was different from any Grey Hound I'd ever seen though. The writing was orangey-gold and read "Red Arrow" with a big red, orange and golden bird behind it, riding a sea of flames on a surf board.

The door to the bus opened and Ashi climbed up the first few steps and deposited the three coins in a fare canister.

"To Half-Blood Hill please," She was about to move on but paused and looked back to the driver. "Oh, and they're with me." She pointed over her shoulder to us.

I looked to Thalia nervously.

"I didn't know the gods read Harry Potter."

She shrugged. "I'm guessing this thing was around a lot longer than the "Knight Bus."" She stepped on board and followed Ashi to the back of the bus.

Followed Thalia's lead, I climbed up into the bus and paused when I looked into the driver's seat. A cute little red-orange cockatiel was sitting on the wheel. It wore a conductor's hat that said "Red Arrow" on its head.

"Aaaww~" I reached out to pet the bird, but met nasty resistance in the form of its beak. "OW!" Drawing back my hand, I left the bird and sat down next to Ashi. Thalia occupied the seat beside us.

"Welcome to the Red Arrow bus." Ashirai leaned back in the seat. "This is the fastest mode of transport you'll find in North America. There's just a couple things you need to do before we go though." She opened the bag on my lap and pulled out my iPod and offered it to me.

"One, buckle up." I couldn't help but look at her sceptically. This was a _Grey Hound_! There _were_ no seatbelts that I could see. Ashirai didn't look amused, but continued on. "Two, keep yourself occupied. Don't look around you. Don't look at other passengers. Just listen to your music. Sing if you want. Just don't look outside the window or at the driver."

"Speaking of the driver, where is he?" Thalia questioned.

"He's at the wheel." Ashi looked surprised. "He's been there the whole time."

"Uh...what?" I couldn't help but ask.

Ashi sighed. "You really need to open your mind up more. This is _monster_ travel. That's why it's so fast. That bird there? That's the Phoenix. Now buckle up, listen to your music, and get up when I tell you. That goes for you too Thalia." She gave her sister a warning glance.

"Whatever..." Thalia and I mumbled in unison.

"Don't say I didn't warn you..."

* * *

YAY! DONE! It only took me too long. Hopefully you liked the chapter. Next chapter they get to camp (at some point). Wheeeeeeeeeeee...


	5. Chapter 5: I Develope A Phobia Of Buses

Disclaimer:  
-_Percy Jackson and the Olympians_ and its entire cast belong to Rick Riordan.  
-Eon belongs to me. Do NOT take her.  
-Ashirai belongs to Worenx. Don't take her either.  
-J.K. Rowling doesn't belong to me...just thought I'd mention it...  
-Happy Meals are from McDonalds.

* * *

Okay, I finished The Lost Hero, and it DID get better as the book went on, but still, it's throwing in new things that _may_ leave plot holes or lacks of explanations, like the Maximum Ride series...which helped lead it to SUCKING; though that was also due to a ridiculous/stupid plot after the first series. So here's hoping it STAYS decent. Apparently there'll be 4 books in the series, so that should be enough time to explain everything...especially if they're ALL the size of the first one! There _were_ a few things that I call BS on though...

1: Jason surviving seeing a god's true form. NO. Just _no_. I don't care WHAT reasoning there is to it. Just. NO. That's godmodding too much...and I wasn't being "punny." Leader of the "seven" or not, I'd even kill off Eon in that situation. Don't break ALL the rules like the atrocious movie!  
2: The trials the Roman kids apparently _need_ to go through when they start. If Jason REALLY went through it when he was TWO, and SURVIVED...uh-uh. This is the kid that tried to eat a stapler. Unless the trial is eating a phone (which I doubt) I don't see how he could've survived it. (Miffin Note: That's actually a good point. Maybe they got Jason to cute a monster to death. It might work. *shrugs*)

That said, I'd love to remind you right now that my ideas _ARE NOT FROM THIS BOOK/SERIES AT ALL!_ I knew the _general plot_ for ALL the "books" I plan to write before The Lost Hero was even out. Anything that's similar to The Lost Hero is completely coincidental. I believe that I even put the first chapter up before The Lost Hero was out, so there's my evidence. XP This is my _own_ story for the new Great Prophecy. BUT, until I take my Classics course next semester in the fall, I won't have very many 'unique' monsters/myths to work with, so that is the ONLY way I'll be 'taking plot' from Riordan. That and there's a lot of inconsistencies by text. But I'll likely just be using monsters I wanna beat up that chapter. I _liiiike_ violence... I'm also VERY likely going to make up new monsters, since it's been over 4 millennia. New monsters HAD to have been born! And this is fanfiction anyway! I can do whatever I want. :P (Miffin Note: Preach it, dude!)

Similarities The Lost Hero had: Ashi is Zeus's kid and is _amazing_ at using the Mist, though she actually manipulates it for her _**own**_benefit. Jason seems to not even notice it, and Ashi is NOT charm speaking. Ashi, though, is _not_ Superman, and cannot _fly_/control the winds. She _IS_ quite sparky however, and uses electrically charged metal-soled boots jump high/far (magnetism. It's a good thing.). Eon can use fire, but she actually has a _reason_ behind it, not some crap like "oh, I'm Hephaestus's son, so I can do it!" Her reason won't be explained till the _very_ end though, as all shall be explained then. Since unlike most cheap, BS-ed money-making continuations, I like to make people _think_ about the plot and try to figure it out for themselves. Not spoon-feed every second of the way or just BS the entire plot/reasoning (*Glares at the new Warriors series for pulling this*). Another point: her dad isn't Hephaestus. Have fun guessing who he really is/_WHY_ she can use fire for that matter; pops has little to do with fire at all. Your final hint is that it has something to do with what she released. I'm being generous today. Hoo-haa.

* * *

**NOTES!**  
-For the song, go to the beat of "Jingle Bells" (mainly the awesome Batman-version of it).  
-I foreshadowed Eon's father this chapter. Do _you_ know who? If not, you'll see soon! (Miffin's Note: Who's that Pokemon?)

* * *

-  
**Chapter 5: I Develop a Phobia of Buses**  
-

* * *

Never. _Ever._ Evereverevereverever_EVER_ let Ashirai choose your mode of transportation. Why? Well I _could_ tell you why, but I believe that the reason would be _far _better expressed through _song_. Ready? No? Too bad.

"Driving off the rooooaaad, our driver is a biiiird, overtop lakes we goooo, screaming as you've heeeaaard! Something just went THUMP. I've _really_ gotta dump! All that's left to do right now is say bye to my rump!

Ooooh, jangle bells, this is hell, why'd we get on booooard? Please dear gods don't let us die, it'd really suck for uuuu~UUUUS!"

Does that give you a better idea? If not, I guess that I should back up anyway and tell you what _exactly_ happened.

It all started on the Red Arrow bus. I gotta admit, I didn't believe Ashirai when we got on board. Her instructions made no sense! One: To buckle up. Two: To pay attention to anything _but_ the driving, driver, or passengers. And three? That the driver was really the fabled Phoenix, one of the few mythological monsters you constantly hear about, whether it's in books, cooking or video games. I mean _seriously!_ It looked like a _cockatiel!_ And whoever heard of a _bird_ driving a _bus_ anyway (other than everybody else on the bus apparently...)!

So as you could guess, I didn't listen. But in my defence, I _saw_ no seatbelts, nor did Thalia for that matter. So the two of us were left out of the loop as the cockatiel-Phoenix flapped its wings and hopped onto the gear shifter, the wheel completely forsaken.

"Uh...what's the bird doing?" Thalia expressed my own concerns as its little foot clicked the button in, moving the shifter down to drive.

"Next stop—chirrup!—Lake Ontario—chiruup!" The Phoenix literally chirped and jumped off of the shifter and onto a small perch next to the seat. There was a sudden lurch in the bus and I realised that that was no perch. It was the accelerator. And it wasn't holding the wheel.

"Oh my gods..." Thalia breathed, her face paling. She gripped the seat in front of herself tightly. I mimicked her, just to have the passenger in front of me turn and give me a glare.

"S-sorry!" I whimpered, but it came out almost soundless as the glare of the stranger both surprised and terrified me at once. One large round eye was trained on me, and his lower canines stuck out of his mouth like he had a _bad_ under-bite. I swear to the gods that I also saw a _big_ oak club on the seat beside him, some gnarled, spiky thing, with roots covering the top. There was a hint of red on it (please be ketchup, please be ketchup…!).

Oh. My. God...s. It was a Cyclops.

"Oi, nothing to see here." Ashi made a shooing motion to the strange man. Grudgingly he turned around again, opened up a newspaper, put a large monocle over his gargantuan eye, and began to read the funny pages.

If I wasn't so preoccupied with self-preservation, I would've wondered what sort of optometrist that guy saw. Or how expensive that...glass was. Or if that was just BBQ sauce on the club or something more half-blood flavoured. It _probably_ wasn't blood…right? Instead, I hung onto the his seat for dear life as the bus began to race down the highway, swerving wildly as the bird jerkily turned the steering wheel with a foot.

"WAAAAAHHAAAAH!" Thalia and I screamed when the bus hit the edge of the road, then slipped down into the ditch and raced into the forest. Shrubs stood no chance against our advance, and perished under the wheels, or even worse, smacked against the windshield where they too had to share our horrifying experience. Since I didn't hear them screaming in terror, I guessed that my dad wasn't some pansy gardening god (thankfully, as I would've had even more to worry about if that was the case and I managed to survive this. Wait…darn puns…). Suddenly, the Phoenix decided to hop onto a large green button on the dash. The bus seemed to slow a little and I made the mistake of relaxing, sneaking a peek around the bus.

The bus was occupied by an odd crew, and that's putting it politely. Some normal enough-looking girls sat at the front of the bus, chattering on about something. They didn't seem to notice the impending doom we were heading for, which I found strange, but not as strange as their cheerleading outfits and mismatched _donkey_ legs. Behind them sat a bronze-coloured dragon with three heads, which I realized was a Hydra. Some smoke billowed out of its nose as all three heads bobbed rhythmically. There were buds in each head's ear holes. It was listening to an iPod. Beside the Hydra sat two literal seahorses...or at least I guess it could be called sitting. They didn't look too comfortable, and grumbled something to each other now and then. If it wasn't for Thalia's horrified screaming, I might've made it out (not that I can speak horse, mind you). But that drew my attention to the front of the bus again. It turned out that the green button was the windshield wiper. The crusty remains of the shrubs were swept away, only to reveal an obstacle course of trees.

I too began to scream again.

I swear that J.K. Rowling is a half-blood, and she too went on this metal death trap. Because how _else_ can you come up with such a strange series and have such a similar experience? The bird was _hopping_ from the wheel to the accelerator over and over, and the trees began coming at us blindingly fast. I'm sure that a couple of times they even lifted their roots and jumped out of our way. Others weren't too lucky.

_**THUMP!**_

My face smashed into the seat in front of me and I slid out of my seat, dizzy. The bus spun out of control and I think kids in Taiwan could hear my screams by now. _No one_ else seemed to notice though. They just continued on with what they were doing. They didn't even shift from their seats! _WHAT_ was going ON!

_**THUMP! BUMP!**_

Thalia flew three feet into the air and landed on the Cyclops's lap. He paused from his reading and looked to her. With a growl, he kicked her off his lap and continued. I think I heard him mutter "tourists" or something when Thalia landed next to me. The Huntress was pale and green at the same time. She kept saying some Greek words, which could've been either a prayer or a continuous stream of curses. Either way, it seemed to save us from hitting anymore trees for a grand total of thirty seconds.

_**DADUMP!**_

Somehow the Phoenix regained control of the bus after the fourth or fortieth crash (I lost count somewhere in between) and he began to weave through trees again until we finally broke through to the edge of the forest.

"Oh thank the _GODS_!" I cheered..._juuuust_ in time to see the lights of a city come into view.

"You...have _GOT_...to be kidding me..." Thalia hugged onto the leg of the closest seat for dear life. Before we knew it, we were dodging traffic just like the Knight Bus, with varying results. After skipping 17 red lights, hitting 3 cars, 2 trucks, 4 semis (_HOW_ do you _NOT_ see a _SEMI!_) and taking out about three old ladies and a porti-potty, we were finally through the city and barrelling down the highway again. Then we were off of the highway again when the bird deemed it to be too "_slow."_ Yes. Apparently going 400 MPH (also known as Miles per Hopelessly-Fast-Time-Unit) was not fast enough.

Ripping through a corn field, I was extremely relieved to see a large lake ahead. It _had_ to be Lake Ontario. Time to get _OFF_ of this thing! Or so I had hoped.

The Phoenix jumped onto the accelerator again and we were approaching the lake _fast_. It was about then that I realised that there was _NO_ way humanly or even _monsterly_ possible that we'd be able to stop in time for the shoreline.

An excited "ney" came from behind me and I noticed how far the momentum of the crashes had pushed me up. I was almost next to the "driver."

"Chiruup! Lake Ontario—chiruup!"

The lake was _meters_ away and closing in. I wanted to close my eyes but I dared not. The bird remained on the accelerator, not having the slightest intention of turning. And then we were on the water. The massive amount of speed must've worked like a skidoo over water, because we were skimming across pretty well—until the Phoenix slammed on the breaks.

Have you ever walked into a door, pole, or window? If so, do it at about fifteen times the speed you were going at originally. That's what it felt like to smash into Plexiglas windshield.

"Chiruup—what're you doing you crazy tourist—chiruup?" The Phoenix fluttered its wings angrily as I pried myself off of the glass. Everything _felt_ in place, though my nose was slightly flattened from the impact. Shaking the dizziness away, I noticed where we were, and my blood turned to ice. We were floating in the middle of Lake Ontario. There was no land in sight. We were on the water. Water..._anything_ but _water_...

The two seahorses (somehow) pulled themselves out of their seats and kinda slithered to the door.

"Have a nice day—chiruup!" The Phoenix greeted and hopped onto a red button.

The doors opened. Water rushed onto the floor of the bus. I screamed.

Everything happened in a flash after that. I felt water pooling around my feet and the bus lurch down from the extra weight. The next thing I knew my legs collapsed under me like broken twigs and I took a dive into the liquid. Black and green swirled around me, chilling me to the bone. I felt something yank my shirt collar from behind and my head broke the surface. Coughing and spluttering, it wasn't until I was on the seat again that I noticed Ashi had saved me from my watery doom. She and Thalia were looking down at me, concern etched into both of their faces. I wanted to show them I was okay, or at least try to cover up the embarrassing moment, so I forced a weak grin and tried to say something. My mind was clearly playing tricks on me though. Thalia's expression changed to confusion and Ashi to surprise. I can't remember _what_ I tried to say, but they didn't understand, whatever it was. The shock of nearly drowning _again_ probably made me mix my two main languages together into a garbled mess.

Ashi murmured something to Thalia and the Hunter reluctantly sat down again.

Shivering, I vaguely noticed the rest of the passengers looking back at me. Whenever my eyes met one (or two) of theirs though, they resumed their business, as if my panic attack was just the main show of ride and now over. The Phoenix was the last to turn away, and he finally closed the door and jumped onto a blue button. Vents opened all over the floor and the water drained with a loud _blurp_. Silence filled the bus for a good five minutes. Then Ashi decided it was time for a change of pace.

"Driving off the rooooaaad, our driver is a biiiird, overtop lakes we goooo, screaming as you've heeeaaard! Something just went THUMP. I've _really_ gotta dump! All that's left to do right now is say bye to my rump!

Ooooh, jangle bells, this is hell, why'd we get on booooard? Please dear gods don't let us die, it'd really suck for uuuu~UUUUS!" She was terribly off-key and some of the notes were sung too long, but it got a small, pained giggle out of me...as well as half the bus.

"You're...a terrible...singer..." I choked. I was so out of it that I hadn't noticed that the bus was already moving. Thalia had though. She had noticed _riiiiiight_ away...

"_ARE YOU INSANE?"_ She barked at her sister as she started to sing (or tried to). Her fingers curled around the seat in front of herself so tightly it threatened to snap it.

"_EVERBODY NOW!"_ Ashi announced, pumping her fist into the air. It was like the desperate stalker-kid I met on the way to school no longer existed. That gave me a sneaking suspicion that the girl beside me might just have multiple personalities, or at the very least was a few fries short of a Happy Meal™. It's always good to know when your desperate millennia-old teenage stalker-Goth-girl with the ability to blast lightning spontaneously and holds a poor track record with (at least) one goddess isn't all there. Glad to know I can rest easy with her around. What is it about me that always attracts the crazies?

The girls at the front of the bus cackled and began to sing along with Ashi so well that this song _had_ to have been circulating for quite a while. With the Cyclops joining in (who sang as good as any rock star), I became sure of it, and before I knew it, Ashi's horrible singing started sounding like a rehearsed band. Even the Hydra was singing along (though it sounded like something between a hiss, growl and electric guitar)!

The entire bus was getting into the song. That included the "driver," who was bobbing up and down on the accelerator. All that was left was Thalia and me. But Thalia wasn't in the Christmas mood—the joyous-impending-doom spirit, anyways. Somehow she managed to drag herself through the isle to the Phoenix. Gripping onto the pole beside the empty driver's seat, she yelled something over the singing. The Phoenix looked to her in surprise, going so far as to cock its head to use its cute charm on her. The Huntress's Lieutenant growled something back and the Phoenix exchanged a few curt words when it realised that cuteness wasn't going to soften the girl up. Straining my ears, I finally caught Thalia yelling, "Could you at _least_ drive on the _RIGHT_ side of the lake?"

The Phoenix cocked its head again.

"Why?—chiruup! Our fatality rate has dropped from 75% to only 40% in the past decade!—chirrup! We're safe as can be—chiruup!"

"_FORTY PERCENT!_" Thalia looked like she was ready to jump into the driver's seat and stop this madness, but restrained herself. We were still overtop water, after all. A mutiny here wasn't in our best interest. Unless, of course, Ashi knew how to drive. And I had a sneaking suspicion that I would _not_ want to find that out personally.

The Phoenix shrugged. "Oh, we'll all come back to life. Chiip!"

"No, _YOU_ will! And in a month or so, so will all the other monsters here! But not _US!_"

"Oh yeah...chiirp!" The Phoenix shrugged again. "Not my problem."

Thalia's face was the loveliest array of white, red and green I'd ever seen; very Christmas-y. If I had been feeling any better, I'd've held bets of what would happen first: heart attack, barfing or strangling. My money would be on the strangling.

There was another huge thump, which I assume was us either hitting a whale or a fishing boat. I'm not quite sure how I managed to stay in my seat, but I was perfectly fine. Thalia, on the other hand, decided to steal the show (or at least try) and smashed into the windshield. Sadly her performance must've been a 5.2 at best, because the rest of the bus just ignored her and continued to sing the whacky death-trap tune.

By the time Thalia managed to pull herself off the windshield, land came into view, and if I knew _anything_ about geography, I assumed that we were now in America.

"Next stop—chiruup!—New York City!—chiirup!" The Phoenix announced, suddenly jumping on the wheel and turning the bus at a sharp 90 degree angle. My stomach lurched and I was forced forward, but something around my waist and chest stopped me from colliding with the seat, instead giving me a fierce case of whiplash. Looking down I saw nothing though. If it was the so-called "seatbelt" Ashirai mentioned earlier, I'm not sure where it came from, what it was made of, or if it really even existed at all.

"I don't think so!" Thalia growled. She was clutching onto the pole again, somehow having remained standing during the turn. The Hunter Lieutenant's eyes glittered violently, like lightning was dancing around in them. Without warning she reached over and grabbed the wheel of the bus, swatting the bird off of it irritably. The Phoenix squawked angrily and pecked and clawed at her, but she didn't even seem to notice, instead concentrating on the extremely bumpy road and protecting the accelerator from the bird. Gradually the bus slowed down until it was going only about 40MPH. That was when the Phoenix decided to pack it in. With an angry chirp he landed on the breaks and the bus lurched to a stop. He then hopped up to the stick and set it into park.

"Get off my bus, you crazy tourist!" He squealed angrily, flapping his wings wildly at Thalia.

"You don't need to tell me twice." Thalia stepped to the door and motioned us before getting off.

Gingerly I stood, finding no resistance from the apparent seatbelt, and stumbled down the aisle after her, Ashi right behind me with a sour look on her face. The bus left moments after we departed, leaving us in the dust. Literally.

"Why'd you have to do that? We would've been at Camp in ten more minutes!" Ashi complained, glaring at Thalia.

"In _pieces_ maybe! I don't trust that bird as far as I can throw him!" Thalia countered. "We're better off _walking_ or finding a cab."

"Let's not fight..." I offered weakly, but the two daughters of Zeus ignored me, instead moving the argument to more personal grounds, such as Ashi was being irresponsible and a poor role model, and Thalia being too short.

In shock and soaked to boot from the bus, I left the two of them to it, starting down the road to get my bearings. I'd never been to America before; it's an eight to ten hour drive from Edmonton, which is a little out of the way, even on the pay check of my University professor mother and her new professor husband. It might've been for the best anyway. I _hated_ Scott's kids, Samuel and Cindy, and Scott was no better himself. What would I talk to them about on the trip there anyway? Why I was such a freak and they're not? Plus with all the homicidal monsters that wanted to kill me, I think that Canada is a _much_ safer place, no? Maybe all those Minotaurs and Chimeras are still waiting on their passport. At least you did _something_ right for me, _Mom_...

My feet dragged along the road, kicking up some dust as I walked. The cool morning air made me shiver, and it was about then that Sparky-pants 1 and Sparky-pants 2 behind me stopped bickering.

"Here." Ashi threw her jacket over my shoulders. It didn't help much, but I appreciated it. She looked guilty, though I couldn't tell if it was for endangering all our lives on a suicidal transportation device or the fact that she was arguing while I was slowly developing hypothermia. Maybe she felt bad for endangering my life. Repeatedly. Eh, probably not.

Thalia took a brief look around before heading to the nearest tree and scrambling up it like she was raised by a koala. "Camp should be a few more miles that way!" She called down to us, pointing to the red-streaked eastern sky. At first I thought she knew that from her awesome Hunter instincts, or maybe her Zeus genes made her like a human compass. Half a mile later though, Thalia pointed out a large sign that read, "Pick your own strawberries!" When she explained that this 'camp' place was famous for its strawberries, I couldn't help but be a little disappointed.

"So...what do you _do_ at this 'camp' place anyway?" I finally brought myself to ask them. Maybe it would've been an even _better_ plan to have asked them before I made my decision, but seeing as my poor ADHD brain had trouble operating in the long term, I deemed this a good enough time as any. Besides, the more I knew now, the less likely I'd look like a _complete_ fool in front of total strangers. Because looking like a _partial_ fool is just totally my thing, y'know?

"The usual," Ashi shrugged, "You can go canoeing, do some archery practice, rock climbing, capture the flag, gladiator fighting, chariot races, Pegasus riding. All the standards, plus a little monster fighting on the side."

I stared at her like she was mad or making a joke, but the punch line never came. Thalia received my dumbfounded look next.

"It's true," she said with a slightly amused smile. "Camp Half-Blood was made to help train half-bloods for life in the real world, as well to keep them safe when they have nowhere else to go, or if they choose to stay."

"Great," was the only response I could manage. I was going to a summer camp. One _full_ of even freakier things than me, and _that_ takes effort. What would gladiator fighting and chariot racing teach me about real life? How to properly fend off annoying survey people? Actually, that might be useful…

"Don't worry; I'm sure you'll fit right in. And if not, there's always the Hunters of Artemis." Thalia soothed, but 'fitting in' with a group of freaks was not exactly what I'd consider a good goal for my summer. Or my life, for that matter.

My legs were really starting to kill me after another mile of walking, and I was tempted ask Ashi for a piggyback ride when I noticed how quiet it was for the first time. The only sound I could hear was the occasional rock shifting under our feet and my laboured breaths. The sun was finally peeking out from horizon, casting a weak light over the earth, but not a sound around us. No birds. No mammals. Not even any pesky mosquitoes. Something was definitely wrong.

"Hey..." I whispered.

"Took you long enough to notice," Ashi growled. Her hand was on her necklace, and in one fluid motion she yanked it off and it transformed into her creepy scythe.

"She's just a kid." Thalia already had one arrow knocked and ready to let loose. Her eyes scanned our surroundings quickly, ready to shoot at a moment's notice.

Well _I_ felt completely left out of the loop. So like the heroic demigod that I was, I pulled the hunting dagger out of its sheathe, promptly dropped it—twice—and held it in front of myself, decidingly _not_ ready for anything that came our way.

Ashi's eyes flicked forward about fifty paces and trailed off into the woods. Spinning her scythe, her expression shifted to irritation.

"Sphinx..." She warned, and as if on cue, a large golden cat stepped onto the road...only it wasn't a cat. The bottom half of the creature was obviously feline, probably a lion, but the shoulders up on the beast was that of a human woman, and on her back, as if pasted there with crazy glue, was a pair of dark brown and gold wings. If I had to guess, I'd say she stood nine feet tall and from nose to tail tip was thirteen feet long. She moved into the middle of the road and gave us the kind of cruel smile that a teacher gives just before passing out a pop quiz.

"Why, hello there little ones! It seems that you have found my new domain. How lucky, how lucky indeed!" Lucky? Sure, lucky like the time I found out my English teacher collected medieval weaponry and liked to test them out—on us.

The sphinx started towards us at a leisure pace, her eyes scanning us over and sizing us up. At last she seemed pleased with what she saw: a three course meal with some decent toothpicks for after dinner. Her devilish smile reappeared.

"Oh, it has been such a _long_ time since I've had a demigod for dinner. Almost two _years_ now! Why, that could be a record!" She licked her lips and I suddenly felt disgusted. "Well then, shall we get started, children?"

I raised my dagger, ready to fight (or accidentally stab myself; whichever came first) but Ashi pushed my hand down.

"_What—_" I hissed, just for Thalia to slap her hand over my mouth. Okay, this was starting to get _very_ strange.

"Oh bother, it seems like _one _of you don't know the proper Sphinx etiquette." A soft growl rippled in her throat, and her eyes seared into me.

Ashi and Thalia tensed. Great. I managed to screw up. _AGAIN!_ I _really_ needed a crash course on monsters, mythology and etiquette before I ended up as lunch.

"However...I will let this one slide," her tail swished leisurely, "but _only _if you can answer _all _of my riddles correctly."

"Fine," Ashi said, standing the hilt of the scythe onto the ground. "How many do we answer?"

"Mmmm...Five should be sufficient for three foolish little demigods." She gave us a mock smile.

"Very well." Thalia released my mouth. She then whispered into my ear, "Sphinxes like riddles, Eon. If you can answer all of them, they let you pass without any harm. But if you mess up on just one..."

"Then it's one heck of battle." Ashi finished, gripping the scythe tightly.

Nodding weakly, I looked back to the sphinx, wondering how we'd _ever_ pass this challenge. I was _awful_ at riddles! Hopefully Thalia and Ashirai would pull through for us.

"Question number one!" The sphinx announced. Her wings rose into the air and flapped once, releasing a number of feathers into a breeze. "What is high in the middle and round on the ends?"

There was no question about it. The sphinx's grin grew when she stared at my stupefied look. How would _I_ know?

"Uh..." I offered, and Ashi slapped her hand across my mouth. She gave me a glare that could melt ice and answered "Ohio."

"Ooooh~ Correct! Well done, little demigod!" The sphinx praised.

Typical. Americans and their geography. _Other_ places exist in the world too! Like that country with a really funny name. You know, the one with the name you can never remember?

"What word becomes shorter when it is lengthened?"

"Short." Thalia answered coolly. She gave me a thumbs up, but I still had a feeling that things were about to go horribly wrong. Gut instinct...or maybe it was due to the lack of food I've had over the past few days. Either way, I was nervous.

"Oooh! Very good! It seems that the two of you fancy riddles yourselves! Bravo!" The beast's tail waved enthusiastically as she spouted the next riddle, "How many times can you subtract 5 from 25?"

Thalia and Ashirai paused on this one. Judging by the motion of Ashirai's fingers on her scythe hand, I knew that they were counting.

"Fff..." Thalia ventured, reluctant to say the number.

"It's f—" Ashi started, but I peeled her hand from my face and yelled, "ONCE!"

The sphinx turned on me and hissed angrily. My body tensed, ready for her to pounce at me any second, but to everyone's surprise the oversized furball backed down.

"Very...good." A sweet smile was forced onto her face. "Once you take 5 from 25, it becomes 20. I guess I'll need to try a little _harder_..." She growled bitterly.

I swallowed. The sphinx looked like she was a sore loser. Would she really let us pass if we answered all of these correctly?

"Which one is heavier, a pound of feathers or a pound of gold?" She narrowed her eyes at me as she spoke.

Oh yeah, like _I_ knew the answer. Sheesh! I make it habit _not_ to read! If you ever thought that it was hard reading with dyslexia, try reading in _Japanese._ Deciphering strange symbols that're constantly bouncing around the page and doing 360's is _not_ easy. That was when I developed a strong dislike of books. Since then, any book without pictures ended up in the fire after the school year. A fitting fate for evil re-incarnate.

"Well?" The sphinx pressed on.

Thalia and I exchanged looks, both equally unsure of what to say.

"Three answers..." Ashi murmured under her breath. She moved in front of Thalia and me. Glancing back at me she whispered, "If we don't get this one right Eon—run. Get over the property line no matter what. We'll hold her off."

"P-property line? What?"

"Keep going down the road until you see a huge pine tree. Head towards it until you see a barn. You can get help there." Thalia instructed, tightening her grip on her bow.

"R-right. Got it." I couldn't feel my fingers anymore; they were gripping the knife too tightly.

"_WELL?_" The sphinx looked less than pleased about us taking our time.

"It's...uh..." Ashi stuttered, "It's...the same?"

Quick as lightning, the sphinx's claw came down on Ashi. Somehow she managed to react in time and held the scythe up to defend herself, but the sheer power of the beast forced her to her knees.

"_WRONG!_" The monster snarled. Her pupils were slit like a cat's and her human face contorted into a monstrous glare (because she was a monster, ha ha ha…).

Thalia began to shoot arrow after arrow at the sphinx.

"GO!" They both howled. Ashi barely levered the sphinx's claw off of herself before it tried to crush her with its other forepaw. If not for Thalia's marksmanship, she'd be a flatblood right now. Instead, the arrow dug deep into the sphinx's attacking claw and surprised her enough to make her flinch. Ashi used the split second to her advantage and rolled under her belly to safety (oh Poké-logic! You've saved yet another half-blood!). From there, she jammed the hilt of her scythe up under the sphinx's ribs while Thalia scrambled up a tree to take some higher shots.

I heard the sphinx scream in irritation and pain as I booked it down the road. I wasn't sure what I was looking for. A tree? Great. There were only a _million_ of those around! Strawberries? There was the odd patch here and there, but nothing really screamed "secret half-blood summer camp, enter here!"

It took only two minutes of non-stop running for me to begin panting. I would've slowed down to catch my breath if it wasn't for the angry howling behind me, and the light rhythmic beating on the ground. I didn't need to look back to know what was happening. The sphinx had broken through Ashi and Thalia. She was looking for the nearest convenient fast food (read: me). I kept running.

"ばかなカンップ！どこ？!" I cried angrily. The thumps were getting louder, and that coupled with my exhaustion made me start stumbling like a blubbering idiot. I was about ready to turn and face the beast as a last resort when something caught my eye in the distance. There, not three hundred meters away, was an opening past the woods. I could see a large green hill and at the very top of it, a solitary pine tree stood, towering over it like a god. That _had_ to be it! So urging my aching legs on, ran for it with only one thought in mind. That thought was 'CAT REPELLANT!' I'm still not sure _why_ I thought that.

The higher I climbed up the hill, the clearer the tree became to me. It must've been at least one hundred feet tall. Branches spread out in a perfect conical pattern from the lowest branches a third of the way down to the very top. The only thing that seemed off about it was its base; it was horribly swollen and a bright copper colour, but oddly still pretty to look at. It would've put the New York Square Christmas tree to shame, especially with the strange golden pillow-like thing hanging on the lowest few branches. It was _beautiful_. Gold radiated off of it like a miniature sun. I was sure that thing could glow in the dark…and make me go blind if I looked at it too long, but I couldn't help myself. The sight was so mesmerizing that I didn't hear the blade-like scraping sounds until the actual sun vanished above me. Blinking, I looked up to the source of the problem.

Hovering fifteen feet above me, curled around the tree so tightly it seemed to be a part of it, was a large copper monster, one that even _I_ knew.

"Oh God…" I whimpered, taking a slow step away from the beast. "Dragon…"

A snarl rippled through the beast's long throat. He (at least I assumed it was a he) glared at me with golden slit eyes. Smoke billowed out of his nostrils and his jaws parted to allow a small forked tongue out. He lowered his head until he was at eye-level with me, and then took a sniff so powerful that some of my hair flew out from behind me and whipped his scaly nose.

I was paralysed with fear. I was hoping that he was like a T-Rex; you know? Don't move and it won't see you? When the growl returned though, louder than before, I knew that that idea was bogus. He roared, Godzilla-style. The next thing I knew, a copper claw _my_ size moved out from next to the tree and came down to squish me. Somehow I managed to tuck and roll just before I became a pancake and tried to run around him. Unfortunately though, dragon necks are quite flexible. It may have something to do with being so_ long._ His head turned a 180 to follow my movements. He opened his mouth to shoot a long stream of flames after me.

"AAAYYAAAIIII!" I don't know how he missed me. Maybe my dad was the god of luck. Yeah, that had to be it. It would explain how I survived up to this point, but didn't explain why the back of my shirt was now on fire.

"AAAAAHAHAAAA!" I began to jump around, swatting at the back of my shirt to put out the flames. I felt and saw a few more flamethrowers during my little fire bane 'dance,' but all miraculously missed as well. Maybe this dragon needed glasses. If only I had gotten that Cyclops's optometrists' number. Maybe _then_ he wouldn't want to _kill_ me so much!

The flames went out eventually, but I could feel my entire exposed back. The next time wouldn't be so pretty, I concluded, turning to face the dragon. His head snapped to attention when I pulled out the hunting dagger. If not for my legs' uncontrollable shaking and my shirt being partly burnt off, I _might_ have looked semi-threatening. He obviously wasn't on the same page as me though and flopped his head onto the ground irritably. With another roar he blasted two steady streams of flames at me…from his nostrils.

I remember thinking two things: HOT and EEEEEEEEWWW! If I'd've been slightly more on the ball, maybe I would've tried doing something slightly more sane like, I don't know, _dodging_? But instead, seeing the flames flying at me as quickly as they did, I allowed my body to react before my brain did. I dropped into a kneeling position and tucked my head into my stomach. The air heated up around me to incredible temperatures, but somehow I didn't seem to be burning up. My hands clutched onto the dagger, ready to jump up when the fire stopped and finish this.

"WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?" A masculine voice bellowed from somewhere behind the dragon.

The flames stopped instantly and the dragon made a strange whimpering sound, like a reptilian dog.

"H-huh?" Shakily I looked up. The copper dragon had its head bowed like a sad puppy while a blonde-haired girl scolded it. With the dragon presumably defeated, I looked past it and the girl. Two young men were coming up over the lip of the hill and heading toward me. One looked like he was about seventeen to eighteen, brown hair and green eyes. A golden sword was in his hand. The other looked ancient compared to the kid with messy brown hair and some facial hair. At first I thought he was on horseback, but as he got closer I realised that he _had_ a horse's back…kind of.

"Who are you?" The kid asked. It wasn't threatening, more so curious, but with the sword still in his hand I couldn't help be feel a bit annoyed.

Shakily, I forced myself up. I left the dagger on the ground to show I didn't want him to run me through.

"I think I'm covered in dragon snot and you ask my _name_ of all things?"

"I…uh…"

"Percy, she's right." The girl stepped away from the dragon and toward me. She looked me up and down like she was scanning for something. At last her eyes moved up to meet mine. "How did you manage to make it here? Where's your keeper?" She sounded a little concerned.

"Keeper? I'm not a dog!" I announced, feeling more irritable by the second.

"No, no. A keeper, a satyr." The old man said, but instead of looking at me, his eyes were glued to the ground around me. "Aren't you a lucky one to make it this far without a keeper…" He murmured, intrigued. The other two were also looking at the ground around me, tempting me to copy them. Black scorch marks were burnt deeply into the ground inches away from me in two perfectly straight columns. If the dragon had used its mouth to blow those flames, it would've hit me dead on.

"A-aahhnng…" I moaned, looking up to the dragon. The beast seemed to have lost interest in me, as he was now snoring away under the shade of the tree.

The horse-man cleared his throat. "Well, it appears that you are now relatively unharmed and safe. No burning flesh, no large cuts." He smiled at me. "Would you grace us with your name, young lady?"

"I-I uh…E…Eon?"

"I see. Welcome to our humble camp, Eon. I am Chiron, Activities Director here at Camp Half-Blood. This is Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase, two of the camp councillors." He motioned them when he spoke. His eyes glanced down to the dagger at my feet and back up to my face. "Could you tell us how you managed to find your way here alone? It is rare for a half-blood to make it here without a keeper to guild the way, and I doubt you have had any formal training." If he had seen me at all the past week, it would've been pretty obvious that I hadn't had any.

"T-this place…the tree…Big…House…" My eyes drifted down the hill as my thoughts collected. That was right. I was supposed to get to the pine tree. Go to the 'Big House'. Get some help. I didn't know what happened to the sphinx after it started chasing me. I didn't know if Thalia and Ashirai were even still alive.

I thought at first my eyes were having trouble focusing, because the layout of this camp was unreal. There was a vast landscape below the hill, stretching past a lake, a couple of creeks and a forest to the ocean. Strawberry fields were to the extreme west of the hill, some stables north of them. A couple more buildings were to the east of the fields to the center of the camp, where a number of buildings sat in a rough rectangle around a huge unlit hearth. A small lake was north of a volleyball court, and to the west of it stood a _giant_ gaudy ceil-blue farmhouse, which had to be where Thalia had meant.

I looked back to Chiron. "I-I need help! Thalia and Ashi, t-they were fighting a sphinx! T-they told me to get help here! Please!"

Alarm overtook their faces.

"A sphinx? This close to camp?" Chiron asked.

"_Thalia?_" Percy and Annabeth asked at once. They knew her?

"Y-yeah! It asked riddles. We screwed up and they told me to run for it! Help them, _please!_"

"Percy, you find Thalia and…Ashi?" Chiron paused, confusion on his face. He quickly shook it off though. "Find those two and help them back to camp. I'm sure that if Thalia is here, without the Hunters of Artemis, this is a story we will all want to listen to."

Percy ran down the hill without another word. Annabeth came up next to me after Percy vanished down the farm road. She put her hand on my shoulder and gave me a reassuring smile.

"It'll be okay. Thalia won't be beaten by sphinx. Now, let's get you fixed up. I'm sure the Camp Director will want to hear your story." She looked to Chiron. "I'll take her to the Apollo cabin and get some first aid, just in case, then bring her to the Big House, okay Chiron?"

The horse-man nodded. "I will meet you two there then." With that, he galloped down the hill to the Big House, leaving me alone with Annabeth and a huge copper dragon.

"This way," the councillor started down the hill toward the center of camp. With very few other options and not wanting to start round two with the dragon _just_ yet, I started after the teen. First-aid sounded pretty good to me right about then.

* * *

DONE! YAY! I got her to camp an entire chapter earlier than planned. *Does a dance* Looks like this book may be shorter than I thought. *Does another dance* Not that that's a bad thing. University just makes it hard to write. I've been doing this instead of studying or writing my Zoology assignment. Oops. *Hides*

So R&R if you like, and thanks for reading up to now! ^ ^


	6. Chapter 6: A Prophecy's Revealed

Disclaimer:  
-_Percy Jackson and the Olympians_ belongs to Rick Riordan, not me.  
-Ashi belongs to Worenx. Do not take her.  
-Eon and Aisu belong to me. DO NOT TAKE WITHOUT MY PERSMISSION!  
-Kaze or "Mikhail" in this and Forsythe belong to Miffin. Forsythe is now the councillor for Demeter's cabin since I know him relatively well, and Kaze is the second in command for Aphrodite's cabin, since he will be important in another 'book.' (Miffin Note: Mikhail is his real name, FYI. Kaze's not in his actual name at all)  
-ToS (Tales of Symphonia) belongs to the Tales Studio. I _love_ the game, but the second game is crap. Eon mentions it as a (bad) joke. I don't own it.

* * *

**NOTES!**  
-Ashi's real last name is Kounokiba, but since it's Japanese I switched it to Lykos, which is Greek for wolf (I am so creative). Lee-koh-ss.  
-Hero's Drink is a Legend of Zelda reference. If you're a Zelda fan, you get it. I don't own LoZ.

* * *

-  
_**Chapter 6: A Prophecy's Revealed **_  
-

* * *

We passed a _lot_ of strange things on the way to the cabins. Girls that could breathe underwater or walk into trees; half-goat half-human 'satyrs', as Annabeth called them; harpies doing laundry in the lake; kids wearing flying shoes on the way to the bathroom…the list goes on. I decided that the only way I'd survive a summer here with my sanity intact would be to lose the ability to be surprised. I really hoped that the situation couldn't get any weirder—wait, giant tentacles attacking the kids from the outhouses. Okay, that clinches it. I've really died and gone to some Greek Wonderland. Gods help me.

"So…how old are you?" Annabeth asked, trying to start a conversation.

"Almost twelve." I answered, watching some of the underwater-girls push a couple canoeing kids through the lake. They all seemed to be enjoying themselves, especially the girls when they flipped a canoe or two over. Note to self: don't mess with the mermaid-girls.

"Hm, do you know who your parents are?"

I let my silence be my answer. I didn't want to talk about my mom after the way we left off, and I still didn't have a clue who my dad was.

"I see…" Annabeth waved to another blonde-haired kid. "So, how did you meet Thalia and…Ashi?"

"Ashi tried to kidnap me from a bus until a griffin attacked, and I ran into Thalia when I was mauled by a sabre-toothed tiger after Apollo left me alone in a parking lot in the middle of Ontario."

Annabeth actually paused and looked back at me. My expression must have told her I wasn't joking. That or she'd met Apollo before. She continued walking. "Sounds like you've had an interesting trip."

"I guess that's one way of putting it."

We slowed down when we reached the cabins, and I gotta say, they were the strangest assortment of buildings I had _ever_ seen before in my life. The first two were larger than the rest with the most simplistic albeit sophisticated designs. Others though, ranged from being seashell-covered to pure gold, to having a grass roof to being poorly painted and looking like it'd collapse at any second. Some of the cabins looked like they were a lot newer than others as well, but they still held their own unique and quirky appearance.

"This is where campers sleep. Each cabin represents a god or goddess, and campers sleep in the cabin of their godly parent." She looked me over again, as if trying to determine something. At last she shook her head, "Since we don't know who your godly parent is, you'll be bunking in cabin eleven with the children of Hermes. Once you're claimed you will move into your parent's cabin."

"Ah…" I looked over the cabins solemnly. If one of these cabins really belonged to my father, I couldn't tell which one it was. Nothing really screamed out to me. Then again, I didn't know the first thing about most of the gods and goddesses, so that didn't help.

Annabeth put her hand on my shoulder.

"Don't worry. Last summer Percy made a deal with the gods. They were to claim and recognise their children by the time they reach age thirteen, so at most you have just over a year until you know who your mom or dad is." She smiled at me, but something in her gray gaze made me feel like she was holding something back.

"Thanks…" I murmured, but avoided looking at her. Instead, my eyes travelled between the cabins to the central area. There, a number of kids surrounded a giant hearth, throwing stuff into it and chanting strange words. "What're they doing?"

Annabeth was silent as she watched them with me. "Trying to light it," she finally said. She then took my hand and headed toward the fourth cabin to left, the one that looked like it was covered in pure gold, making sure to leave a wide berth around the people at the hearth (which turned out to be pretty smart move, as not a second after we went around them, the hearth exploded and three of the kids went flying. The hearth itself remained unlit though).

Cabin seven was too bright to look at directly. When we got to the door, I had to put my griffin glasses on to cover my eyes, and even _then_ it still hurt. Annabeth knocked on the door and a short blonde kid opened it.

"Hey, is Will here?" She asked.

Just before the boy could answer, there was a loud thump and a ton of cheering inside. "He's in the back!" The kid yelled over the cheers and stepped aside.

The cabin was a lot bigger than it looked on the outside, though that may have been due to its blinding nature (who knows how many planes it took down in a day). Bunk beds lined the walls neatly, and a large picture of a familiar movie star-esque god hung over an unlit fireplace.

"This is Apollo's cabin?" I asked, looking up at the picture. I could've _sworn_ that it was smirking at me (scratch that, it was _definitely_ smirking).

"Yep. Since he's also the god of medicine, his children have a natural knack for healing magic."

"Oh. So long as they don't use Nurse then." Annabeth didn't get the ToS joke, not that I was really surprised. She didn't seem like a person who liked video games.

The blonde boy led us past the bunk beds to the back of the cabin, where about twenty kids and half a dozen satyrs were crammed together looking at something. Most of the kids were blonde with a few of Apollo's facial features, like his nose and eyes, but a couple of them didn't look like him at all. They must've been some other god's kids.

"Taking all bets now! Who says a bicycle comes next?" A tall brown-haired boy announced, holding what looked like a cross between a microphone and a hand grenade. Hands shot up and money was passed inward to him. Everyone jammed together to get a closer look at the center of the circle, where apparently some sort of show was going on.

Annabeth put her hand on her face and shook her head. "They're at it _again?_"

"At what again?" The main problem with being short: you're short. Not only can you_ not_ ride a rollercoaster regardless of your age, you can't see diddly-squat over all the tall people, and believe me, most of Apollo's kids were tall, like him (curses, they must've stolen all the height when it was handed out at birth). I vaguely saw a fishing rod in some kid's hand, and a flash of blue before someone elbowed me away. Jerks.

"A couple of days ago, a satyr returned here with a strange animal. No one knows what it really is, not even Chiron or Mr. D, but it has an incredibly deep stomach for something so small. A bunch of the Hermes and Apollo kids tried to find out how deep its stomach was, but that quickly evolved into a game." More cheers erupted from the crowd and money was passed around (was that even legal?).

"Deep stomach…?" Something about that sounded familiar.

"Yeah, it's a strange—"

"Eon?" Something grabbed the back of my brand new 'Camp Half-Blood' T-shirt (courtesy of Annabeth) and I span around, ready to face another monster, or evil Huntress, or…music teacher?

I gawked. Mr. Anderson, or Anderson—whatever he was called, my music teacher and dog murderer, was here. He was standing in front of me with the same curly goat horns and shaggy brown goat legs that I'd last seen him with. He smiled at me like he always did in class.

"I'm glad you made it here. I was worried that Ashirai would mess up."

His kindness snapped me out of my surprise, and gave him the dirtiest glare I could muster. He flinched, but said nothing about it.

"Why're _you_ here?" I growled.

"I work here during the summers. I am a keeper, after all." He answered calmly, somehow looking me in the eyes despite my glare.

"You're her keeper?" Annabeth asked. She had to yell over the cheering behind us.

"Well, originally I was. Then she was taken out of my custody by Ashirai. I…do not know what happened to her after that. I am glad she made it here safely though."

"If you can count being mauled by a murder of demon pigeons and a sabre-toothed tiger, attacked by a crazy giantess, doing brain-teasers with a sphinx and playing chicken with a dragon _safely,_" I countered.

"O-oh…" Genuine sorrow flowed to Anderson's face, and for a moment, I felt bad about mentioning it. Then the moment passed and I was all good for continue glaring at him.

Another blonde boy from the crowd made an impressed whistle and put his hand on my shoulder. I was about to smack it off when I noticed the bow over his shoulder. My analysis led me to the conclusion that hitting him would result in some painful target practice later. I only shook his hand off of me instead.

"Sounds like you had a rough trip, but you don't need to take it out on Anderson. He did nothing wrong," he said, nodding to the goat-man.

_Besides giving me to a psycho and killing my dog?_ I argued mentally, but kept my mouth shut.

Anderson shook his head sadly.

"No, no, she has a reason, Will. I shouldn't have allowed Ashirai to bully me into letting her take her here…and her dog…oh! Her dog!" The satyr's eyes lit up momentarily, and I was about to strangle him for taking pleasure in Aisu's fate when he pushed his way into the crowd. Cries of protest came from everybody betting, especially the kids that were making a killing off this weird game when Anderson returned, a little blue and white puppy in his arms. The puppy looked up at me, her golden eyes shining mischievously and her little blue muzzle turned up into an adorable/evil grin.

"Haiz," she said, her cerulean blue forepaw making a four-toed peace sign.

My vision became blurry. Tears were tugging their way to my eyes. Aisu…Aisu was here, alive, in front of me. That cute little face, that annoying yet adorable (and annoying) voice, that weird blue and white colouration, that appetite for inedible objects and the ability to regurgitate them unharmed (did I forget to mention that before? Oops. Must've slipped my mind.). There was no doubt about it. Anderson had brought my puppy back somehow.

"AISU!" I grabbed her from Anderson and gave her the biggest bear hug I could muster. She made a choking sound and coughed something up, probably a radio or TV. I didn't care. My totally abnormal puppy was back!

"Your…erm…flytrap coughed her back up, after you left…" Anderson admitted, fiddling with his orange T-shirt.

"GOOD!" I announced, finally releasing Aisu enough so she could breathe. Her spiky frozen fur had dug into my cheek, but I hardly noticed it. It was just too much of a miracle that she hadn't been digested by that oversized carnation.

"B-but she then…swallowed…the flytrap…" Anderson murmured sadly, his head bowed.

"Yeah, so?" I became aware of all the kids and satyrs gawking at me. They looked surprised and confused. It must've been really rare to have a talking slightly-frozen miscoloured pet whose stomach acted like a transdimensional fridge. Score one for Eon. Camp kids, zero.

"D-don't you care about the plant?" Anderson asked, looking hurt.

"Hey, anyone that eats my Aisu _deserves_ to spend the next decade or so in her stomach." I rubbed Aisu between the ears. She purred (don't ask).

"Okay, show's over!" Will announced. Groaning and grumbling the kids and satyrs slowly filed out until only Will, Anderson, Annabeth, Aisu and me remained. The cabin seven councillor looked to Annabeth. "So, what do you need? Not another puppy, I hope. We only had one in stock." He gave me a wink and I controlled my urge to deck him one. He reminded me of his dad too much.

"We actually came for some healing." Annabeth said, looking me over, "but it looks like she's doing fine now."

"Looks that way to me too." Will agreed. "I think she'll last another couple days without my help." Were all of Apollo's children smug like this? Was smugness contagious, like a bacteria?

"Alright. Well, we're going to the Big House. I think that Chiron and Mr. D will want all of the councillors to be there for this though, so will you spread the word around for me?" Annabeth asked, leading me back to the door.

"Sure thing." Will said, just before we left the Apollo cabin.

Ashi, Thalia and Percy were already at the Big House when we got there. Annabeth and I had decided to help Will and take all the cabins on the right, while he did the left side. So a mini army of mainly college-aged kids followed us as we walked to the ugly farm house. I wondered if they painted it that way in an attempt to camouflage it with the sky. If they did, it worked just about as well as Aisu acting normal (as in, didn't work. At all).

"Thalia!" Annabeth ran to the Huntress and semi-glomped her as soon as she saw her. "It's been too long!"

Thalia smiled and the two of them caught up as they walked inside, Percy right behind them. The other councillors followed their lead and walked in, leaving the out-of-place-looking Ashi and me to watch them go.

Ashi smiled at me when we were alone, but her eyes looked troubled and worried. Her hand was fiddling with her scythe-necklace nervously. Other than a few scratches on her cheek and arms, she looked alright though (for a psycho-child-stalker-homicidal-scythe-swinger anyways).

"I see you got your dog back. Good for you." She looked at my feet instead of my face.

"You okay?" As much as I believed (or knew) Ashi was a weirdo, I didn't like seeing her like this. It made me nervous as well for some reason. Maybe because some small part of me knew what the future held. Or maybe it was because a spooked psycho wasn't exactly synonymous to the word "safe".

"I'll live." She stood up straight and offered her elbow to me in a mock-polite fashion. "Shall we?"

"Fftt." I walked in passed her and hurried after the last retreating councillors.

You'd think that a summer camp dedicated to training children of the gods would have a decent meeting room. Nope, they don't. All twenty or so of us were jammed into a hot little rec room with only a ceiling fan to keep us from dying of heat exhaustion. A ping pong table sat in the middle of the room, taking up even more space, and only Chiron, now compressed into a wheelchair-mode, a chubby-looking guy in a tiger-striped Hawaiian shirt, and the first couple of councillors in the room had a seat. The rest of us got the pleasure of standing in the hot, sticky room, while the Hawaiian guy looked over some cards in his hand. Since I'm no card game expert, I couldn't even attempt to guess what they were playing.

"Isn't this grand…" Ashi murmured under her breath when a bunch of satyrs walked into the room as well. Most of them were carrying trays of refreshments: pop, crackers, veggies, nachos, grapes, strawberries, scrap metal (I'm not joking about the last one). A few others though were fatter than the Hawaiian guy and wore laurels on their head. Somehow they scared up a couple of the councillors and took their seats at the table. Only one with laurels stayed standing; he looked younger than the rest, and wasn't nearly as fat. He stood next to Percy and exchanged a few quiet words with him. The two seemed close.

When they were settled in, Hawaiian-shirt sighed irritably and put his cards down. Even I could tell it was crappy hand, and I didn't even know what they were playing!

"I assume, since we're all here now, that we should start this meeting?" He grabbed a sausage from one of the trays and threw it to a mounted leopard head over the unlit fireplace. With a snarl the head snapped it up in one gulp, making a couple of us jump. Others, though, seemed much less amused, like Ashi, and the weird mahogany-haired kid in the corner. He wore a simple gray T-shirt and dark blue jeans. Despite that though, he's what I believe most teenage girls would call "hot" (though he wasn't on fire or anything. I didn't get it). A suspicious yet oddly matching duffle bag was at his feet.

"I believe so, Mr. D." Chiron said, placing his own cards down. He looked to Thalia. "For you to come here without the rest of the Hunters, I can only assume that Artemis has found nothing yet."

"Found nothing? What's Artemis looking for?" A younger girl, maybe about 14 asked. She was covered in so much soot I couldn't tell if she was tanned or not. If I wasn't mistaken, she was one of the kids that went flying earlier when she tried to play with fire. I think that she was missing an eyebrow.

"Someone very, very important. So important, that I doubt she has even told you about it," Mr. D said gravely, his eyes on Thalia.

"So that's why we were moving so much…" The huntress muttered to herself.

I couldn't read Mr. D or Chiron's expressions. They seemed to be etched in stone. Drawn, sad, determined, maybe more. Then all of the sudden they both seemed to notice my presence at once. Slowly, Mr. D looked across the table at me. His shades slid down his nose, revealing purple flames for eyes.

I felt dizzy. Something about those eyes made my stomach do back flips and my head pound. Just before I started staggering though, Ashi gripped my arm tightly and caught my attention. As soon as I looked away, the feeling was gone, and I realized too that Mr. D wasn't looking at _me_. His purple gaze was boring into Ashi, and even she looked a little tipsy as she starred him down. At last though, he lifted his shades back over his eyes and leaned back, his hands folded over his stomach.

"You're…" Chiron's eyes widened in surprise. He blinked a few times, to make sure he wasn't seeing things, then said, "Ashirai…it's been millennia! How—"

"How isn't the issue here, Chiron," Mr. D growled, making a diet soda can appear out of thin air. He cracked it open, took a swig and slammed it down. "I never thought that I'd see you again, yet here you are now. I supposed it's as good a time as any though. I guess that you weren't a complete lost cause after all, daughter of Zeus." Gasps came from the crowd, but he ignored them. He then turned to me (for realz this time, lucky me), and a scowl crawled onto his face. "But you're not telling me _this_ is the one you wasted so long looking for."

"Thanks…" I murmured. I guess I'm not popular with _all_ gods. There goes my confidence.

Ashirai gave her own little scowl. "Yes, Dionysus, I believe that she is," she said curtly.

Thunder shook the building and a bunch of the councillors and satyrs looked around nervously. I didn't know the name personally, but I knew it had to be Mr. Hawaiian-shirt's name, and that he was a god to boot (I mean, how many _other_ people have purple flames for eyes and like _diet_ soda?).

Dionysus sniffed. "If this wasn't such an important matter, I'd turn you into a chickadee and send you to Mount Olympus as a gift to your father." He paused and swirled the soda around the can. Without looking at Ashi, the god said, "But now is as good of time as any for you to complete your quest and save the hearth."

"Quest? Hearth? Millennia?" Words bounced around the room quietly between the councillors and serving satyrs. The only ones that seemed to be in the loop were Mr. D, Chiron, and the laurelled satyrs. At last Chiron sighed and rubbed his hand over his face tiredly.

"What we say here now does not leave this room, understand?" Silence circulated the air as the old centaur rolled his wheelchair away from the table. Everybody stepped aside to let him pass until he stopped in front of the fireplace, starring into it intently.

"Hestia, the eldest and the youngest Olympian…has gone missing."

A moment passed of shocked silence, and the room erupted into pandemonium. Satyrs and councillors alike started demanding 'how is this possible,' 'when did this happen,' 'what's going to happen now?' It was so loud that at first they didn't notice the distant thundering and the ground softly rumbling until Mr. D slammed his fist into the ping pong table so hard that it left a deep dent. No one would be playing on that table ever again.

"SILENCE!" He howled and silence he received. No one dared to anger the god anymore than he already was. Dionysus glared around the room at everyone, just to make sure everybody got the picture. "Hestia has been missing since the day after the Summer Solstice, June 15th. We do not _know_ how this happened, or else we would have _found_ her by now! Shortly after her disappearance, the hearths of Mount Olympus extinguished, regardless of our efforts to keep them lit, and the same happened here as well. So stop your _whining_ or I _will_ turn you brats into gophers!"

Chiron turned his chair around to look at us all sadly. "With Hestia gone, human society will begin regressing rapidly, becoming angrier and steadily more intolerant. Ideals and rational thought will diminish, and society will plummet into an age darker than any other, where friend cannot be distinguished from foe, and trust is non-existent."

"Doesn't sound too different from humans already…" One of the laurelled satyrs muttered. There was a flash of purple and a chubby gopher appeared in his place. Dionysus blew some smoke from his finger nonchalantly, never once looking away from Chiron.

"However," some life returned to Chiron's eyes, "there may be hope yet. It has been many millennia, but Ashirai, the daughter of Zeus and bearer of the prophecy, has returned to us." He smiled at Ashi. "Though you have already agreed to take up this quest when the prophecy was first told too many years ago, I will ask you now: do you still wish to continue this quest, Ashirai Lykos?"

My eyes drifted to Ashirai when she didn't answer straight off the bat. She was hesitant. This was her one chance to back down after millennia of trying…and a simple yes or no could end or begin everything. Her hand was still clutching my arm from when Dionysus first looked at her. It was shaking.

"I-I do."

"Then let us make this a formal new beginning." Chiron motioned to the door and a girl with wild red hair walked in. She smiled and waved at the two of us. "This is the new Oracle of Delphi, Rachel Dare. Rachel, may we hear the prophecy of the Hearth?"

"Sure thing, Chiron!" The Oracle waded through the sea of demigods until she was in front of Ashi. Taking Ashi's free hand, she looked at it intently. In a blink her eyes changed from brown to solid green, and some matching smoke floated out of her mouth.

Ashirai tensed, but the girl's grip on her hand was too tight for her to escape. The sight scared me so much that I wanted to run, but with Ashi's tight grip it was obvious that wasn't going to happen anytime soon. Needless to say it's a _little_ creepy when a teenager suddenly starts puking up pine-and-fire-scented smoke and can see/dictate your not-so-distant future.

"Through the passage of time must one brave soul stand  
To meet the Mockingbird of another land  
Her inverse alone shall be your guide  
And through her a soul once lost revived  
To hearth the two shall lead in timelines mixed  
And a hero's mistake finally fixed  
To thoughtlessness alone downfall be brought  
And in battle deadly secrets be taught  
Together must fire and lightning stand  
Or perish they will under parent's hand"

Rachel blinked and her eyes returned to normal. "That is the prophecy of the Hearth," she said to the stunned crowd.

I became painfully aware of the eyes on me. Whispers circulated the room and pricked at my ears. My legs turned to jelly when I saw Mr. D and Chiron's intense stare.

"So she's the 'mockingbird'?" A guy with a long scar over his eye asked sceptically. He had white-blond hair and was covered in soil. At this point I didn't even want to know how he had lost his eye. He'd probably lost a wrestling match with a shark or something.

"I have no doubt," Ashirai answered casually, looking down at me as well.

My blood turned to ice. Everybody in the room seemed to take a sudden interest in me, raising the hairs on the back of my neck. I felt like a bird trapped in a cage. I would only be let out when they decided so. Was having a prophecy supposed to feel like that?

"W-wait, you mean to tell me that you want to use me as a _map_ to find some lost _goddess_?"

"Well…" Ashirai paused, "we can't be positive, but I guess it's something like that."

"No way," I shook my head. "You have GOT to be kidding me!"

Surprise overtook Ashirai's face and the muttering stopped completely.

"What proof do you have that I'm your so-called "mockingbird!"" I growled, balling my hands into fists.

"I already told you. Your ability to copy sounds makes you the _only_ one that fits the description!" Ashirai snarled back. "If you want proof, _sing_!"

"Fine, _assume_ that I'm your stupid bird. Do you _really_ think I wanna go to the ends of the earth just so you can find a goddess? How do you expect me to _survive_ this _road trip_? I can barely use a _dagger,_ let alone _fight!_" Not to mention years of RPGs have taught me that gods/goddesses didn't normally take well to being rescued, but I decided against mentioning that too.

"I'll protect you!"

"_HOW?_"

"I—I…some…how…" The demigod choked out. She finally saw the problem. I wouldn't last long on the road unless the camp store sold industrial-sized monster-repellent, and that was probably by special or pre-order only.

"Besides! What's that 'inverse' even mean? How'm I supposed to lead you anywhere? The only goddess I've seen in the past few days was Artemis, and if _she_ hasn't tracked down Hestia, how can _I_? I hate to break it to ya, but I'm as average a freak as they come, and that statement doesn't even make any _sense!_"

"I—" Ashirai looked overwhelmed and pained, but I couldn't exactly back down. I _liked_ having all my limbs intact and located in the right spots on my body.

"Enough," Mr. D growled, putting the empty soda can onto the table. He turned toward me. "Have you had any strange dreams recently? Anything that could point the way to Hestia, Edea?"

"Edea?" If he was trying to lighten the mood, it wasn't working. At all. I shook my head irritably. "Just blackness. Nothing that'd help." It was a partial-truth, but I thought better of telling everyone in the room about my trip to the big black hole in the underworld and the lightshow-spheres. As for my first dream with the creepy voice-dude, it was in pure darkness. Even if it _was_ that Hestia I heard, I wouldn't know where she was.

Mr. D scowled. His fingers tapped the ping pong table anxiously, as if he was waiting for the good news that would never come. At last Chiron sighed and Mr. D stopped.

"I see. In any case, it would be best for you to stay in camp until you have a sign. We will talk about the quest then," The old centaur said, looking longingly at the fireplace.

There were murmurs of agreement and some of the councillors started heading out. My next statement stopped them dead in their tracks though, and I believe that I made Camp Half-Blood history in record timing to boot.

"_Then_?" I looked at him incredulously. "No, no, no, there is no _then_ for me. _IF_ I have a dream, I'll talk and that's it for me. I don't want anything to do with this quest."

There were gasps and Ashi looked like she was about to be hit by a truck. Her eyes were wide and fearful, and her skin paled almost enough to match the gardener-kid's hair (as dirt-covered as it was). If I thought it couldn't get any worse before (which I didn't, for the record), it just did. Will regarded me coldly and a tough-looking girl snorted and sized me up the same way bullies did at school.

Mr. D narrowed his eyes at me.

"Do you know what you are saying?" He questioned.

"I—er," I hadn't even noticed Thalia had moved until she hissed into my ear.

"No one's ever backed down from a _quest_ before, Eon! It's a chance to prove yourself to the gods! Make your mother or father proud of you. And backing down when a prophecy is even _partly_ about yourself is a _great_ insult!"

"I…I don't care," I declared, "We don't even know what half that prophecy means or where it will take us. I'm _eleven_ and I'm supposed to raise the dead? I can't say that I'm an expert on quests, but I _know_ that you don't just go to the underworld and say 'hey, I need to borrow this guy, 'kay?' I don't want to lose my life on a suicidal mission! You gave Ashirai a chance to back out, and I want that same chance!"

"You said…that you would come…" Ashi murmured, pulling herself back together. She balled her hands into fists and glared at me. "You _can't_ say no! You're my _only _chance of finishing this!"

"I said I'd come with you _here_, not on your quest. I said I'd listen, and I did. If this quest is as safe as your Red Arrow bus, then I don't want any part in it. Besides, one of the lines was'to thoughtless alone downfall be brought.' Between your actions and my plans, we're screwed."

Ashirai looked like she was ready to attack me, but Chiron saved the day. He cleared his throat loudly and wheeled his chair in between us.

"That is quite enough, you two," he announced, giving us both a stern look. "Ashirai, she is right. She has the right to refuse to go on this quest, but also," he looked at me, "if you _do_ have a dream, anything that could point Ashirai in the right direction, please tell us immediately. By then I am sure you will have decided where your priorities lie and what you wish to do about this quest."

Grudgingly I nodded, though I still believed that nothing would change my mind about it.

Chiron must have sensed my doubt, but said nothing. Instead, he turned to a pair of tall twins. My mind was buzzing at that point from all that happened in the past ten minutes, so I missed what he said other than them being the Stoll brothers and the councillors of cabin eleven. The twins looked at each other distastefully then to me when I realised that they were going to be my cabin leaders. They didn't look all too fond of the thought. This day just kept getting worse.

"Wait," Thalia put in. Everybody paused and looked to the Huntress. "Artemis gave Eon permission to stay in cabin eight until she's claimed, so she can stay with me." She gave me a sympathetic look, and for the first time ever, I felt like I really had a friend, or at least one that wasn't covered in fur.

"Works for me," One of the Stoll brothers said and they high-fived. That only made me feel worse. Did _no one_ other than Thalia want me around? Correction, no one that wanted to _use_ me? The answer was a blatant big fat 'no'.

"Alright, that concludes this meeting then, and remember, _nothing_ about Hestia leaves this room, understood?" Chiron asked.

There were murmurs of agreement and everybody started filing out. A couple of the councillors 'accidently' bumped into me on the way out, causing me to stumble like an idiot. I was liking this camp less and less by the second. Maybe being a Hunter of Artemis wasn't so bad, assuming using a bow wasn't mandatory (I've managed to shoot my instructors when they were standing _behind_ me).

Thalia, Ashirai and I were the last campers to leave the Big House. Mr. D already had a new hand of cards and Chiron had rolled his chair up beside him to play another game. They didn't seem the slightest bit interested in us anymore: good thing or bad thing, I still dunno. But they ignored my yelp when Ashi brushed past me and gave me the static shock of a life time. How did these guys get put in charge again? Was there a number I could call to send complaints? Probably not.

Ashirai gave us a dirty look over her shoulder and vanished outside. Thalia put her hand on my shoulder when she was gone.

"It'll get better. They just need to warm up to you."

"The _sun_ wouldn't be warm enough to chill them out," I moaned, stepping out onto the sand. "Is it a requirement for these people to be big jerks?"

Knowing she couldn't say anything to cheer me up, Thalia lead me back to the cabins, or specifically to the most normal-looking, cabin number eight. She opened the door and stepped aside to let me enter first.

The cabin was huge and had a number of bunk beds like the Apollo cabin, but held a strong forest-y scent and eight pure silver pillars extended from the wooden floor to the ceiling. Each pillar had a different animal carved into it: a wolf, a doe, a bear, a lynx, a dragon, a pheasant, an eagle, and a cougar. This cabin too had a hearth, but like all the others, it was unlit. A large silver statue of Artemis and her stag sat at the end of the cabin beautifully, surrounded by, what I could only assume were enchanted flowers, as they seemed to glow in the moonlight cast by the ceiling. The ceiling itself was like the night sky, star-splashed like before pollution erased the stars and held a perfect full moon. At first I thought it was just a mural, but a shooting star flashed by and I slowly realised that the 'painting' was in fact moving, like it was a satellite broadcast of outer space. I watched it in awe.

"Like it?" Thalia asked, stepping in after me.

"It's amazing! The _coolest_ thing I've ever_ seen_!" I exclaimed, examining the pillars in greater detail. The craftsmanship was so good I wondered whether a mortal or a god created them.

"Glad you like it. This will be your home for…well, whenever you're claimed. Until then though, welcome to cabin eight. Your sponsor is Artemis, the goddess of maidens, hunting and the moon."

I didn't know how to respond to that, but luckily for me, I didn't have to. The sound of some sort of horn ripped through the air, saving me.

"Time for dinner." Thalia smiled and led me to the mess hall.

The mess hall consisted of twelve _huge_ tables, and a handful of smaller tables around a huge hearth. Tree-girls, which Thalia called nymphs, walked around serving fruits, vegetables and delicious-smelling barbecued meats on platters. A heads up if you ever meet a nymph: _never_ point out that serving fruits and veggies is like serving their own kids. They do _not_ take it well—as I found out the hard way. Two minutes into our meal I had a tomato in my hair and roots wrapped around my shoelaces ready to trip me.

Thalia explained how the tables worked. One was for every god or goddess, the big ones for the twelve Olympians, and the smaller ones for the lesser gods. I spotted a number of confused looks in the crowd and asked Thalia about it, since I was sure most people weren't admiring my new hairdo. She explained that normally we'd offer the best piece of food off of our plates to the gods by dumping it into the hearth, but since it wasn't lit, everyone remained seated. As much as I wanted to ignore it, I could tell the secret about Hestia wasn't going to last very long with all of the older faces in the crowd eyeing the hearth.

Due to my…unfortunate incident with the nymph early on in the meal, I had little food on my plate and decided to shut my trap for the rest of the night or risk somehow managing to anger the harpies next (they may have looked like elderly flying chickens, but man were they scary. Like my old Social Studies teacher, but worse). I finished early, and instead of leaving Thalia alone at the lonely table number eight, I looked around at everybody else in the hall. I noted that a lot of the tables were quite empty: like tables number one, two, three, eight, twelve and most of the smaller tables. Others were overcrowded, mainly table eleven, and I was happy that Thalia had saved me from sitting there. Some of those kids there looked like they would steal from their own mother. Mr. D and Chiron sat at table twelve with one teenager and a couple of fat satyrs and a gopher. As questionable as the sight was, my eyes moved on (was it me or was I actually starting to get used to the weird?). A bunch of the Apollo kids were throwing their food into their cups at extreme angles and distances, catching my interest for a good ten minutes until Chiron ordered them to stop. My eyes began to wander again after that, looking for something, anything to keep my mind off of today's events. Try as I might though, my eyes kept resting on table one and the lonely demigod toying with her food.

"Chocolate milk," I moaned softly to my cup, and the creamy brown liquid crawled up the sides until it was full. Even Mr. D's awesome liquid-magic wasn't enough to drown out the guilt I felt seeing how depressed and broken Ashi looked then. Darn it! For a half-crazed child abandoner, she could pull a puppy-dog face like no one's business! I downed my cup and ordered more.

By time the sun had set, I'd finished four more glasses of the Hero's Drink and felt pleasantly drunk, despite its lack of alcohol. The Apollo kids led everybody to the beach and we sat around a fire and began to sing campfire songs. At first, even in my so-called drunken state I refused to sing, mainly because I didn't _know_ any of the songs. As the night crept on though, watching the multi-coloured flames lick up into the night sky higher and higher as everybody joined in, a strange feeling washed over me. At first I thought it was nausea, but I soon realised that it was anticipation filling me. Watching the flames change from green to blue to crimson, I couldn't contain myself, and I found myself singing along perfectly to one of the Greek songs as if I knew the words. Apparently, I did, as people began to clap their hands and cheer me on until the finale, when the flames burst up twenty feet into the night sky and turned pure gold. I was glad the darkness hid most of my face when there were cheers and wolf-whistles all around for me. It hid my embarrassment but also gave me a slightly better outlook on camp. Maybe it wouldn't be _that_ bad after all… I had one friend and could sing Greek songs I'd never heard of before. That just spelt popular right there.

My praise was short-lived when we were sent to our cabins for curfew though, and I trudged alongside Thalia lazily. My tipsiness had passed and I was looking forward to a good night's sleep for the first time in days. Before we got even half-way to the cabin though, Thalia excused herself and went to walk to Annabeth and Percy. Some of the younger campers had wrangled up Aisu at the campfire and still hadn't returned her, so a little depressed, I continued on alone.

Nothing else worth mentioning happened that night other than the brief moment I bumped into Ashirai. She gave me a look I couldn't interpret in the darkness and left for cabin one, all alone. I watched her leave in silence. There was nothing else I could say to her about the quest. I had no dreams, and I had in fact grown quite attached to living.

Once she vanished inside of Zeus's cabin, I turned my back to her and entered Artemis's cabin. Sleep came slowly to me that night, but I was thankful it came at all.

* * *

Whooooo done. It took a little longer than planned for these reasons:  
1) Exams SUCK! - -; I was lucky and ended this year with a B average. Whoo-hoo.  
2) Miffin was busy with school work, so I of course didn't put this up till she was done. (Miffin Note: NEVER take a Chemistry course in the spring if you can help it.)  
3) I smashed my fingers on the job and was more occupied trying to cope with pain than typing.

So hopefully you liked it. It wasn't as interesting as the other chapters, I know, but the next one will make up for it. Eon gets beaten up again! WHEEEEE! *Is mean* Until then, please R&R and have a good summer!


	7. Chapter 7: The Pen is Mightier than Kid

Disclaimer:  
~_Percy Jackson and the Olympians_ belongs to Rick Riordan, not me. I also don't own him.  
~Ashirai belongs to Worenx. DO NOT TAKE!  
~Eon and Aisu belong to me. DO NOT TAKE!  
~Mikhail/Kaze belongs to Miffin. NO TAKING!  
~I don't own Seto Kaiba from Yugi-Oh!, Fruit Gushers or Monster Ranchers. Sorry.

* * *

**NOTES!  
**~Eon's dream about Robocop was actually a dream I had years ago. It was longer and _way_ stranger than that, and I _still_ don't even know who Robocop is… I don't own it, obviously.

~Aphrodite's cabin appearance/colours come from the official guide's picture.

* * *

**Chapter 7: The Pen is Mightier than the Kid**

* * *

The next few days followed a similar pattern. Thalia and I got up and ate breakfast at the mess hall (thankfully without angering any more nymphs); practised one of the activities around camp; visited the infirmary; ate lunch; practised something else; rested until dinner, then went to the sing-along. It was a predictable but useful pattern, especially the infirmary part. We did this for two reasons. One, to see if I was particularly good at anything in camp, therefore allowing me to fit in better, and two, to see if we could narrow down just who my dad really was. For example, on my first full day at camp Thalia brought me to the archery range to practice using a bow. Long story short, I managed to shoot her in the tibia when she was twenty paces behind me (seriously, don't ask). We both decided Apollo wasn't kidding when he said he wasn't my dad. The next day we tried metal working with the Hephaestus kids. I smashed my hand with a hammer in record timing and we were out of there. It was likely Hephaestus wasn't my dad either (especially since it turns out I didn't need a sledgehammer to make a necklace. Go figure). On the third day we tried sleeping like the Hypnos kids, but I rolled over and rammed my head into the floor. By then we were on a first-name basis with all of the healers in the infirmary. We also decided that since I didn't remain (for lack of a better word) comatose like the other kids, Hypnos was out too.

During the break period Thalia and I agreed on, I often sauntered around camp aimlessly, watching other kids do activities they enjoyed and realised that I had no intention of even trying half of them. Pegasus riding? Please! I was _terrified_ of heights and the last thing I wanted was to smell like a horse and need to take a shower. I didn't have a green thumb like Demeter's kids, so growing strawberries was out, though picking them was an enjoyable and tasty task. Hermes's kids ran the camp store and stole about half the contents they stocked on the shelves; I was neither good at keeping stock of things that tended to disappear nor was I a very good thief. I stayed away from them to the best of my ability. The only thing I seemed to be good at in camp was singing and playing my violin, so by the third day I'd retreated to the beach and sang and played so long as nobody was around to listen in on me. Yes, the one thing I was good at I was too shy to _do_ it in front of anybody. Typical.

Ashirai popped up during these breaks as well and hungrily interrogated me about my dreams. When she found nothing about Robocop chasing me down the Dodongo's Cavern and jumping on a giant mushroom only to get stuck in the ceiling and then turning into a British cop useful, she still followed me around and tried to sway my opinion about the quest until I met up with Thalia. She'd then feign being busy and leave me with my unofficial guardian. By the third day of this, I was starting to get sick of her badgering, especially when she questioned me after secretly listening to me sing two songs. I was embarrassed and annoyed at the same time, and left her alone in the sand. Running, strangely enough, was one of my fortes, or at least sprinting was. Thalia mentioned that the children of Ares and Athena were good at that, but since I wasn't overly violent Ares was out, and I _hated_ reading, so there went Athena too (which technically speaking _could _be my 'dad' with her whole "brain child" thing, as described by Annabeth. I bet that made for fun family trees).

I found Thalia sitting under the huge pine tree on Half-Blood Hill with Peleus after leaving Ashi in the dust. I was panting hard from the distance of the run, and collapsed down next to her, ignoring Peleus's growls. Ever since our first encounter, he had decided I definitely wasn't a snack, but not a friend either. I'd take offence if I really cared one way or another, but I didn't. So long as Peleus didn't try to barbeque me, I was a happy (and non-charbroiled) Eon.

"Ashirai again?" Thalia asked without looking to me. She was busy polishing her bow.

"Mmhm," I answered lazily, setting my violin case on my lap.

We sat in silence for a few minutes, enjoying the pleasant day. It was warm out with a slight breeze. There wasn't a cloud in the sky.

"I'm thinking of trying something different today," Thalia said at last, breaking the silence. She shouldered her bow and stood up.

I stood as well. "What?"

"C'mon." She started for the cabins and I followed.

Cabin ten was elegant and strange-looking at the same time. Black and white chequered tiles covered the floor, while beautiful purple pillars rose up to a shimmering blue roof. The building itself was painted a frosty white.

Thalia knocked on the door and an Asian girl answered.

"Hello Drew, Eon's here for the test," Thalia said to her, pushing me forward.

"W-wait, test?" I choked. I hadn't even studied. I didn't even know what subject this was on! Don't tell me I escaped pop quizzes at school only to find them here!

Drew looked down at me like she was looking at an ugly ragged mutt on the street (which reminded me that Aisu was still MIA since the first day, that lazy mutt. She was probably off trying to eat the camp—literally—out of house and home).

"Come in," She said at last and walked into the cabin.

I struggled and protested, but Thalia just dragged me in after her.

A bunch of girls and guys were sitting around the cabin, doing their hair, looking at their reflections and reading some stupid fashion magazines. I put two and two together and concluded that this wasn't Hephaestus's cabin.

"Sit down," Drew ordered, and nervously I took a seat on the nearest unoccupied bed. I was painfully aware of the "hot"-yet-"cold" dude from the Big House (was he a Poptart?) sitting on the bed next to me. He peered intently at me for a moment, then returned to patiently unwrapping a package. I decided to call him Kaze after the wind. His eyes looked like they could cut right through it.

There was a thud and my attention snapped back to Drew. She was holding a shiny new magazine in her hands which she had likely grabbed from the chest behind her. That or her obvious dislike for me solidified into an angry stomp of displeasure. The slam attracted the attention of the other campers and they all circled around Thalia and me. This was the first and only time ever a pack of pretty kids had made me fear for my life (not the glitter!).

"Alright, question one, what do you prefer most: sleeping, gardening or sword fighting?" Drew asked, looking in the magazine.

"I uh…sleeping?" I answered unsurely. "What's that gotta—"

"Next, what's your sign?" Another girl asked, reading over Drew's shoulder.

"Sign? What're you talking about?"

"Star sign, which one?" A boy answered beside me.

"Uh…Cancer?" I answered, hoping I didn't sound like a total moron.

A number of kids made a face and pressed on to the third question. "Straight, bi, or bent?"

I gave Thalia a look of bewilderment. What kind of pop quiz _was _this?

"Leeet's go with straight," she answered for me and one of the girls made a note in her book.

"Can you breathe under water?" A boy asked.

"Uh, no?" I gave him an irritated look.

"Do you ever have the urge to resurrect the dead and use them in a decaying army or for talent shows?" A girl asked.

"_What?"_

"That's a no then," Drew lazily wrote down another note in the book.

"How many books do you read in a week?"

"Anywhere between zero and a fireplace," I answered. They had to huddle and converse on how to answer that one.

"Do you like jewellery?"

"If it's shiny."

"What if it's not shiny?"

"I feed it to my dog. Not diamonds, though. They give her gas."

Again they had to converse.

"Fire, water, wind, earth or heart?"

"What's Captain Planet have to do with this?" I cocked an eyebrow at them.

Thalia was rubbing her temples. "Just answer it, Eon…" She pleaded.

"Fire then…" I murmured.

"What are you best at?"

I made a face and forced myself to say "singing."

"Tiger, anvil, barley or dove?"

"The Wizard of Oz?"

"Answer," Thalia and Drew said irritably in unison.

"Tiger, sheesh," I grumbled. This was going nowhere fast, and by their expressions, they too were starting to realize it. The next few questions came more rapid than the first, startling me a little.

"Who's your favourite singer?"

"Megumi Hayashibara."

"Favourite author?"

"Uh—Rick Riordan?" It'd been _years_ since I last read a full book. I said the first name that came to mind, meaning the one on the last book cover I saw and interpreted in Ontario.

"Do you speak a second language?"

"Yes."

"What language?"

"English." They jotted more down. I'm not sure if they thought that was sarcasm or not.

"Favourite actor?"

"Have none."

"Favourite school subject?"

"Science."

"What brand of toothpaste do you brush your teeth with?"

"Dove?"

They all looked up from the magazine at me in unison, then jotted something down and continued.

"Favourite colour?"

"Red."

"Can you fart the alphabet?"

"I wish," Thalia gave me a look. I gave her a shrug in return.

"Favourite animal?"

"Wolf."

"Favourite American President?"

"Bush."

They all looked up at me again.

"_Why?_" A little girl asked.

"He makes us _all_ look like we're geniuses and could run this country." I shrugged and couldn't help but grin.

"…point." Drew jotted something else down.

Did she mean I just made a point or it was the first point I got in this entire quiz so far? Both seemed quite possible to me at the time.

"Would you describe yourself as aggressive?"

"Not normally."

"When was the last time you ate chicken?"

"About four hours ago?"

"Would you rather be a pro wrestler, falconer or a magician?"

"Falconer."

"Do you enjoy being hot, sweaty and smelly and injuring yourself on a regular basis?"

"_NO!_"

"Alright, that's it for this test," Drew said, flipping through the magazine to compare the results. "We'll give you the results in a minute."

I looked to Thalia nervously. 'Did I pass?' I mouthed to her.

She could only give me a shrug.

"Alright, there were no strong results…at _all_." Drew said, arching her eyebrows at the results. "For almost everything you said you countered it, or only had one answer for the corresponding god. The possibilities though, based off of only one answer for each, are Hypnos, Zeus, Hephaestus, Apollo and Dionysus."

"So, that's who my dad could be?" I asked, amazed that such conclusions would even be _drawn_ by such questions.

"Mmhm," A boy murmured, nodding.

"But you don't have any of Hephaestus's looks, thankfully for you," Another boy said, looking me up and down.

"You don't have Apollo's blonde hair either," a girl said.

"Or his aim…" Thalia murmured. I elbowed her in the ribs.

"Dionysus only has one son now, so he's out," An older girl thought aloud.

"And Zeus hasn't had a kid since Thalia, right?" Someone else asked.

Thalia slowly nodded, but she looked unsure. How would she know what her dad did? She hadn't even know she had a 4000-year-old half-sister!

"I'm not narcoleptic," I admitted, and the campers all looked at each other.

"We have no idea then, sorry," A girl said, looking a little uneasy.

"Wow…this's never happened before…"

"Yeah, weird, huh?" Some boys nodded.

I bit my lip and looked down, depressed. If Thalia brought me to these kids, they must've been experts at these sorts of things, and I managed to even confuse _them_.

_Whose kid AM I then?_ I wondered.

Drew put her hand on my shoulder and I looked up at her.

"Hey, don't worry about it, you'll find out soon enough. Since we couldn't figure anything out though, let's make it up to you two." A fiendish glow appeared in her eyes and I was suddenly afraid again.

"U-uh no, we need to go and practice swordplay!" Thalia said quickly. The excuse didn't stick though.

"Oh don't worry; it'll only take a couple of minutes," Drew sounded much more devious if that were possible, and before we knew it, we were out-numbered and surrounded, with no chance of escape. Surrender was our only option.

We left the cabin covered in make-up, our hair done up with so much product it threatened to snap off before it let a comb through, and a new set of clothes that I _swear_ didn't look as good as they insisted they did. My hair had been curled and my long bangs glued back out of my eyes. I wore a sky-blue T-shirt with emerald green diamonds pointing down from the shoulders on the front and back, with similar triangles on the bottom pointing up to a large red diamond in the center that surrounded a green sphere with a red infinity symbol inside of it. The top of it looked like a regular T-shirt with red trimming at the end of the sleeves, but two inches below my elbows, another, longer sleeve-like part was held up with two white belts. The ends tapered out into four points with red trimming. The camouflage pants they gave me made me look ridiculous though with the extravagant shirt, but it was a little better than Thalia's overly eye-shadowed face and blue and white angel-like clothes. They even managed to glue her hair back like Seto Kaiba's and died the tips white.

"That's the _last_ time we go to Aphrodite's kids for help…" Thalia growled under her breath.

We would have gone straight to the cabin to try to clean ourselves up, but _fortunately_ for us the conch shell was blown, signalling dinner time. Therefore the next hour was spent sitting at table eight and ignoring the gawking kids around us. Finally Chiron felt sorry for us though and sent us off early to get cleaned up. It was the first night I missed the sing-along, and after the day we had in Aphrodite's cabin, I didn't mind at all. It was better than being laughed at in the firelight and having to deal with Ashirai. It was bad enough she was one of the kids staring.

That night I had trouble sleeping. I stared up at the starry ceiling in Artemis's cabin, thinking long and hard about my dad and why I was so strange that _no one_ had any idea who he was. Apollo told me he wasn't my dad, but I wondered if even _he_ knew, or Artemis too. Neither of them had hinted if they did or didn't know, only that I had some big part to play in their stupid prophecies. But at last sleep came to me.

At first, there was nothing different about the dream then the usual. I was in school, writing a test with letters and numbers bouncing all over the page, annoying me to no end. The timer was running out and I still had over half the test to go. Something changed though as I scribbled down some Greek characters I didn't know or understand. Some part of me begged me to look around the classroom, and I obeyed, only to discover that it was empty save for one person. She sat beside me, furiously writing things down like every second counted.

"Ashirai?" I asked quietly.

"Have…to hurry…have…to finish…Shin…" She murmured to herself, as if entranced.

"Ashirai, it's just a test, calm down!" I ordered, but the demigod only ripped through the pages faster.

There was a smashing sound and my head snapped to the front of the room. A woman with a grotesquely old face and long talons for fingers stood at the front, the remains of an hourglass at her feet. Leathery wings extended from her back and she gave me a smile that could melt ice. Sand began to spill out of the shattered glass and onto the tiled floor. The woman laughed coldly and backed out of the room as way more sand than the hourglass could possibly hold spilled out over the floor until it vanished underneath a thick coppery layer. I stood up as she retreated and tried to follow her, but the door slammed shut and my feet stuck into the ground like quicksand.

"Ashirai!" I yelped as I tugged at my legs, but she was too busy with the test to hear me or even notice the sand sucking her desk down and lapping at her feet.

"Must…finish…can't stop…Shin…can't…stop…" She moaned softly, flipping through more pages.

"Ashirai! Snap out of it! Ignore your shin! Get UP! HELP!" I struggled and tugged at my legs, but the sand acted like suction cups, holding me down firmly. "RRRGH!" I thrashed about and tried to drag myself onto the desk to no avail.

My eyes flashed around the room in desperation. There was nothing within arm's reach I could use to pull or dig myself out, and the sand only kept coming, burying my knees completely.

"Ashirai, _please!_" I growled, reaching out and grabbing her hand.

She paused briefly and looked to her hand, her eyes trailing up my arm until she looked me in the eyes. My grip loosened in surprise when I saw the dullness in her eyes. The light had been completely sucked out of them, making her look like she was nothing more than an oversized doll. Without another word she went back to the test and I released her arm, falling backwards onto my desk seat. My butt missed though and my back smacked right into it, allowing the sand to crawl up to my thighs within moments.

I shut my eyes tightly, begging myself to wake up, that it was just a dream, but try as I might, even after stabbing my hand with my nails, I only opened my eyes to the sinking room.

"_SOMEONE! HELP!"_ I howled, struggling furiously against the sand.

"_What is wrong, little hero?"_ A familiar voice mocked.

I gasped, quickly replacing it with a growl.

"What do you want?" I demanded, digging my nails so deeply into the desk it left marks as I tried to drag myself up.

"_Why, to help of course. Do not tell me that you are stuck. I thought you were better than this."_

I grit my teeth hard.

"_Tick, tock, little hero. Your time is running out. What will you do?"_

"_RAAAANANGGHHH!"_ I screamed. My eyes were blurry from exhaustion, and I could see Ashirai was chest deep in sand now. I was faring no better.

_Someone…anyone…please…_ I begged inwardly. I had to lift my head to breathe now; the sand was passed my neck. It felt cold and lifeless, dragging me down into its depths. I could no longer see Ashirai. I didn't know if she'd somehow escaped or had already been pulled under.

"_How sad…I was hoping you would make this more interesting, not waste your life in such foolish exercises. No matter. You have done enough for me. I was wrong to choose such a weak child as my flame,"_ The voice taunted, feeding my anger.

I bit my teeth together hard. Weak? Yeah, I might be weak, but I wasn't going to admit it to a coward that wouldn't even show its face to me! My chest began to burn and heat bubbled all throughout my body. I snarled angrily, thrashing my head as sand lapped at my face and covered my eyes. Before it covered my nose, I took one final deep breath and just _exploded_. I'm not sure what exactly happened. Heat shot out of my body and heated up the sand around me until it began to lose its gritty form. The coppery colour faded until it was clear and molten sand dribbled down around me, encasing me in glass. I could feel the bodiless entity shiver and retreat as another burst of heat shot out around me, melting more sand and shattering glass until I could see the floor again.

I gasped and panted, exhausted, and fell to my knees. Another burst of heat and I could feel sweat pouring down my face and back. Gagging and coughing, begging for water but there wasn't a drop in the whole room. I moaned softly and rolled onto my back.

I lay there for a while, breathing fast and deeply. Fighting the exhaustion, I opened my eyes and looked around tiredly. Ashirai wasn't in her desk anymore. She'd vanished to the gods know where. All that remained in her place was her test and a few remaining copper grains of sand. I hoped that she passed the test, at least.

Minutes later I opened my eyes again to the sound of a cooing bird. At first I had trouble making out the avian, but after a few moments my vision cleared enough to make out a large whooping crane standing over me, cocking its head at me curiously. Before I could ask or even wonder why it was there though, it retreated to the back of the classroom and jumped out of the window, leaving me alone once more.

The final time I opened my eyes I saw the outlines of a beautiful young woman standing over me. At first I thought my eyes were just blurred, not allowing me to see her exact features, but as time moved on a realised that she wasn't fully there. I could only see her torso up, and they were barely visible at that.

She tried to say something, but no sound came out of her lips.

"Wha…t…?" I asked tiredly, and she answered me with a weak smile. Without trying for anymore words, she placed something cold and round in my hand, then fizzled out of sight.

Alone once more, I closed my eyes and drifted off to sleep.

When I awoke, I was in cabin eight again. Thalia was nowhere to me seen, and due to the puncture marks in my hand, I wasn't completely convinced I was awake yet. So I did the only logical thing my half-asleep mind could think of and rolled over and out of the bed.

Note to self: don't roll off the top bunk to make sure you're awake. Feeling the pain of falling out of bed and not being attacked by killer sand again, I took it as a sign that I was among the conscious again. Though I sincerely wished that I wasn't with the aching pain in my—everything.

"Unngh…" I moaned and began to get ready for the day.

"You okay?" Thalia stepped in from the bathroom, looking concerned.

"Yeah…just fell out of bed," Okay, okay, I _know_ having a dream like that had to mean _something_, but I wasn't in the mood to tell anyone yet: not Thalia, not Mr. D or Chiron, and definitely _not _Ashirai. I was confused enough as it was. I didn't need anyone else making it worse, so I kept my trap shut about the dream and acted like it was a perfectly normal morning. Which it was. To some people. Just not me.

"Mm," Thalia looked distracted as I tried to comb out some of the remaining curls in my hair with my fingers. It was a more difficult task than you could imagine. Those Aphrodite kids take their jobs seriously!

"What's up?" I finally gave up and tugged on my Camp Half-Blood T-shirt.

"I…kind of promised Annabeth that I'd hang out with her today…you know, catch up…" The huntress admitted, tugging at some of her blonde bangs.

"Ah…"

"But Percy agreed to practice swordplay with you today while I was with her," She added hastily.

"…Fine." I shrugged. What's the worst that could happen other than him maiming, blinding, bruising and killing me? Just your run-of-the-mill possibly-fatal injuries.

Thalia gave me a weak smile. "Thanks, he's waiting at the arena with the children of Hermes."

I skipped breakfast and went to the arena straight away. My reasoning: he'd probably make me puke my guts up during training. He was standing among a bunch of dark haired kids waving swords, spears and battle axes around wildly. Every so often he had to hop out of the way as a pair of kids shifted too close and nearly hit him instead. That really wasn't reassuring.

When he saw me, he waved.

"Hey," He greeted, dodging around a couple of fighters to get to me. "Do you have your own sword or shield yet?"

"No," I answered. Me, with pointy objects? Whoo boy.

He nodded understandingly and led me to the armoury, where I was fitted with a sword and a shield that was almost as big as I was. We could both tell they wouldn't do me much good, but they were temporary until I found a weapon that I liked. Since I had yet to see the entirety of the armoury's selection though, we decided to leave it for another day and make do for now.

We went back to the arena and he explained how to stand, how far apart to put my feet, how to hold the sword right and so on. I was actually starting to enjoy the lazy morning until he told me to come at him.

I gave him an incredulous look but obeyed, charging like a wild bull. As soon as I started charging though, he whipped out a pen of all things and turned his wrist watch into a large shield (I gotta admit though, _that_ pretty was cool). When I was close enough he tapped the pen under my blade so it shot up, forced his shield into it, then jammed his opposite shoulder under my gut so my momentum flung me over him and onto my back.

I laid there, dazed for a few moments until he stood over me, his _pen_ at my throat.

"Let's try that again." He said pleasantly.

I glowered at him but stood up and tried again.

This time he sidestepped and poked me in the back with his pen, causing me stumble off-balance from the weight of my shield and to fall on my knees. Again he put his pen to my neck.

This continued for about an hour until I was exhausted and my right arm felt like it was going to fall off from holding the shield for so long. I tossed the shield down irritably and charged at him one more time, thrusting the sword up at him with both hands.

The son of Poseidon sidestepped, jabbed my funny bone with the pen (cheater!) and swept his foot under my feet, tripping me and sending pins and needles all throughout my left arm.

"You're not even trying," Percy murmured.

"Well, it's a _little_ hard with a shield that weighs as much as I do and a sword that wants to jump out of my hand!" I complained, thrusting the sword into the ground. It didn't help that the punctures in my left hand throbbed when I held the sword, making it even harder to hold onto. "The only swords I've ever used were kendo swords, and those were made of wood, you held them with both hands and smacked each other over the head with them while screaming!"

"Sounds fun, but it won't do you any good here."

"_Obviously!"_ I growled and stood up shakily. Wiping some sweat from my brow, I noticed that most of the other kids had stopped their training and were looking at us. My face grew red and I kicked the flat of my sword into the dirt. "No more today…" I mumbled just loud enough for Percy to hear, then retreated out of the arena.

I've heard of the saying "the pen is mightier than the sword" before. It sounds wise until you're sword is _actually_ beaten by a _pen_. Once that happens it's just downright embarrassing.

My legs led me passed the Big House, over the volleyball court and near the lake before I noticed I had a visitor. When or where I picked her up, I wasn't sure and didn't care either. She walked beside me silently, running her fingers over her necklace and giving me sidelong glances from time to time. At last I stopped and spun around to face the taller demigod, tired, irritable and ready to yell.

"What?" I snarled.

Ashirai's eyes scanned over me. She sighed.

"You know by now what I want."

"Well, too bad! I'm _sick_ of this! Because of your stupid quest, everybody hates me or thinks I'm a total quack! Why can't you just _leave me alone_? _HUH!"_

"Because we both know this quest won't happen if I _do_ leave you alone."

The sharpness in Ashi's eyes made me flinch. How could those eyes ever dull to what I'd seen in my dream? That only gave me more reason to keep my dream to myself until I was sure of what it meant. There was no way I would tell Ashi about it, yet the hungry look in her eyes made the hair on the back of my neck stand on end. It was like she already sensed I'd had the dream, and was prowling until I told her the truth. It didn't help that I was a horrible liar either.

"Hmph! Get lost! If I _do_ dream of something, I'd rather go and see Chiron or even _Mr. D_ before I go to you!" I prided myself on those words. They didn't slip me up like I normally blundered, though it was likely because I didn't mention the dream at all.

She sniffed irritably.

"Tell me what you know."

"No."

"So you do know," She concluded, circling around me like a panther.

"I-I don't!" My tongue was beginning to slip. I could feel my heart racing in my chest. Something about those eyes just got to me. They chilled me to the bone. They looked through flesh to my soul. I remembered the day my mom disowned me. That same look had paralysed me then. I wasn't doing much better now.

"Tell me!" Ashirai snarled, slipping around to get face-to-face again. Her eyes locked onto mine and I stared, unable to escape their desperate search for something. What were they looking for? What was _she_ looking for? Why did she care so much where this quest led her?

I could feel my body shaking in not only fear, but anger too. I wasn't her GPS. I didn't want to be used and then cast to the side, ignored. If she wanted answers, she'd have to earn them.

Ashirai's eyes widened a little when I broke her gaze and returned my own in favour.

"You want an answer? Earn it," I growled.

She blinked and a grin crept onto her face.

"Fine, what do I need to do?"

That was a good question, and needless to say, I didn't exactly think this one through. So casting my eyes around, I surveyed the camp quickly, trying to find something, _anything_ that she couldn't do.

Canoeing in the lake? No. She had strong arms and looked like she could swim well too. That was out. Pegasus riding? She's Zeus's _daughter_! If she could ride a griffin, a pegasus couldn't be any harder! Archery? I'd never seen her use a projectile weapon before, but she couldn't be any worse than me (which would be _really_ hard to pull off). And since no one would agree to have a faceoff with her, she'd just win by default. So that's a no. My eyes moved on to the arena. Considering how big her scythe was, I doubted she'd have much trouble wielding any other weapons and beating me if a _pen_ could pwn me. What was _left_?

I glanced up at the zappy demigod for a moment, irritated and worried to see a smirk on her face. She knew how much experience she had with everything this camp had to offer from the real world. I was in a predicament.

"Well, what do I need to do?" She taunted before my eyes rested on my one and only answer.

"That," I said, pointing up to two _huge_ rock walls spewing out magma like a strawberry Fruit Gusher. I could barely make out a couple of brave satyrs scrambling to the top as the two walls crashed together lazily, sending a rain of rocks and magma plummeting down to the earth. The god of rocks must've had their work cut out for them to keep that thing functioning.

Ashi looked up at the rock wall, a little surprised.

"I need to climb that?"

"All the way to the top."

"Hmph. And you're gonna climb with me?" She cocked an eye sceptically at me.

I froze up. Me? Climbing _that?_ It had to be at _least_ two hundred feet high, and it was a _free-climb!_ And unlike Satyrs, I didn't have hooves to jam into the rocks and super powerful legs to jump ten feet at a time!

"I-I…er…uhn…"

"What? Afraid of a little rock climbing?"

"I'd be insane like you if I wasn't," I growled. I forced my feet to take me to the foot of the walls.

Looking up at it, my blood chilled to ice, despite the heat the magma gave off. Some sort of magic forced any of the magma dribbling down past twenty-five feet to crawl back into the monstrous wall to spew out somewhere else higher up. It didn't make it much cooler though. That also meant that only the first eighth of the walls were relatively safe…so long as you excluded the vibrations caused from the impact of when they met.

I could see that the first hundred feet of the walls were built in a way that they could never touch. One of the walls extended outwards slowly, forcing the climber to climb upside down at different angles until it bulged out higher up to meet the other wall. The second wall was almost straight up and down, but the rocks were smooth, worn, and quite far apart. Only in the last fifty-foot stretch did the climber have their back to the ground at a shallow angle.

Ashirai whistled beside me.

"How does this work then?"

"I…hhn…the first one to the top wins." I had to strain my neck to see the top from the foot of the walls. _How_ did I expect myself to climb this thing again?

She scratched her head. "So if I win you tell me what I want to know, but if you win?"

"Then you'll leave me alone about this stupid quest nonsense until I _want_ to tell you anything."

Ashirai grunted. Her eyes scanned up and down the cliff faces, thinking it over. When she was satisfied she gave me an overconfident toothy grin.

"Fine by me. Which wall?"

I chose the upside-down wall since my shorter arms and legs would never make it up the flat face (which made it an extremely inconsiderate wall if you asked me). Before we had even started, a crowd began gathering, whispering amongst themselves and choosing who to cheer for. With a sinking heart, I noted that most of them were leaning toward Ashi's side and already cheering her on. She waved at them and milked the praise as much as she could, casting me a cocky grin when only a few pity-filled cheers came my way.

"_Eon?_" A surprised voice gasped from the crowd. There was pushing and shoving and Thalia, Annabeth and Anderson all walked up to me, incredulous looks on their faces. "_What _are you _doing?_" Thalia demanded.

"Something crazy," I admitted, stepping up to the wall and putting my hand on the closest rock. I really didn't like the looks of the overhang…

"Crazy—this is more than crazy! It's _suicidal_!" Anderson started, but he silenced himself at my glare. It was doubtful that I'd ever truly forgive him for lying to me for two years and then letting my dog get eaten by a flytrap.

"Do you _really_ think you can make it up this wall?" Annabeth asked me seriously, looking from me to the pile of rocks behind me.

"I guess we'll both find out." Surprisingly my attempt at sounding brave seemed pretty believable.

"Eon," Thalia moaned, "You don't have to do this!"

I looked her in the eyes, betraying none of my emotions: annoyance, fear, exhaustion, desperation.

"It's the only way." I stepped up to the wall and fastened my hands around the rocks.

"Are you ready?" A boy from the crowd demanded. There was a roar of cheers.

"On your mark!"

My hands tightened around the rocks.

"Get set!"

I could feel my heart pounding in my ribcage. My palms were already sweaty and I had no chalk. How would I hold on?

"_GO!_"

Moments passed as I stared at the rocks in front of me, too terrified to even _start_. Cheers, groans and confused caterwauls echoed around me. I bit my lip, trying to calm my nerves. Salty blood dribbled onto my tongue. Shuddering, I hugged the cliff face and pinched my eyes shut tightly.

_No…_ I told myself. _No. I can't give up. I can't lose…I chose this, and I'll win it!_

I grabbed the first rock over my head hauled myself up.

My adrenaline rush gave me tunnel vision, and I was thankful for that. The only thing I had to concentrate on was what was right in front of me. Where the rocks were, how close I was to magma, how slippery my palms were. The cheers were like a dull moan behind me. I could barely make out Thalia's threats for what she'd do to me if I didn't come back down in one piece (though if I was dead, what more could she do to me?).

I was over half way done the overhang when a horrible grinding sound pulled me to my senses, and I became aware of my surroundings again. Blinking, I ignored my first impulse to look down to see how far I was. I knew it'd freeze me up. Instead, I twisted my head around as much as I could to catch sight of Ashirai. I nearly moaned when I saw her. She was over twenty feet higher than me and still going like a lemur.

_Oohgh…_ I dragged myself up another three feet when I noticed something else. The wall was rumbling and shaking softly. The grinding was getting louder as the two rock walls approached each other like molars.

I looked around quickly for something sturdy to hold onto. It turned out that luck was on my side as a scoot to the left of me was a shallow dent in the wall, just big enough to squeeze myself into to wait for the impact. I shifted over to it quickly and crawled in, gripping the walls tightly.

With a deafening bang, the walls collided and sent shockwaves all throughout the two faces. If not for my hiding spot, I was sure that I would've fallen straight off the cliff, as I found it hard enough to just _hold on_ inside.

There was another grinding sound and the opposing wall actually _raised_ a couple of feet and smashed back into my wall. With a yelp I clung to the back of the indent as the opposing cliff threatened to invade my mini sanctuary and squash me. Just before it drew back though, I heard a loud and angry hiss somewhere above me. Due to my predicament though, I dismissed it and focused on hanging on until the wall shifted again. Finally, it slowly moved away and I was surprised to see Ashi sliding down the side of the rock wall, clawing at the smooth stone desperately to find something to grab on to. I poked my head out to watch her plummet thirty feet down until her bleeding hands caught onto rock and stopped her from her descent. A pang of guilt ran through me as I surveyed the bloody streak she left behind. Maybe this was a stupid _and_ crazy idea… She then noticed my stare and glared up at me. Alright, sympathy retracted, time to move on. I began climbing again.

It took some careful manoeuvring to crawl over the bulging lip of my cliff. At one point I had my stomach pressed hard against the rock as I dug my nails into the stone and tried to yank myself up the old fashioned way. Needless to say, that failed. So I had to crawl around until I found a rougher part of the lip and dragged myself into the last 50-foot stretch. I was actually feeling pretty good about the bet before a heat wave washed over me. Blinking my dry eyes, I slowed to a stop when a river of lava suddenly burst out of the mountain ten feet in front of me and blocked my original route. Shaken, I started back down to look for another route when the grinding returned.

_Great…_ Casting my eyes around, I spotted a shallow cave twelve feet down. Releasing the rocks, I allowed myself to drop ten of the twelve feet before digging my feet into the rock face and gripping onto a stone to stop myself. I could hear worried and surprised gasps below. I grinned to myself as I snuggled into the cave.

Originally I had every intention on resting in the cave until the danger passed. This was for a number of reasons. One, I wasn't a fan of getting smashed to bits by giant colliding climbing walls. Two, it was nice and warm, heated by the magma bubbling through its depths. Three, it was a convenient resting spot. It wasn't until I began to relax that I noticed how much my body hurt. I hurt in places I didn't even know I _had!_ A number of muscles were pulled and my hands were covered in sweat and blood, not exactly a happy combination for any climber.

Again the walls rammed into each other. The cup-like shape of the cave protected me from the vibrations, and I awaited the next slam when a loud scream tore through the air. Startled, I dragged myself out of the cave and stared out across to the chasm at Ashirai. Rocks and magma slithered down the wall around her as she held onto a stone tightly, her body swinging like a ragdoll over a lip in the rocks. The vibrations of the last impact must've made her lose her grip again so she slid passed the lava stream fifteen feet above her current position and into the rock bed to her left. I could see warm sticky blood gluing her shirt to her ribcage and coating the rocks. She wasn't going to last long…

I didn't need any persuasion to do the craziest and most heroic (and moronic) thing I had ever attempted before in my life (I wish that I had listened to my common sense instead of my conscience). Crawling out of the cave, I slid down a few more feet until I was at a 45 degree angle to Ashirai. The walls slowed to a stop and began to come together again, just as I planned. I took a deep breath. The screams and cheers from below were overwhelming and distracting. Closing my eyes, I thrust the voices aside and counted the beats like in music, only the beats consisted of short jerks and grinds as the walls moved in. I slid down another foot, readjusting my angle.

_Any…second…now…_ The walls collided with a bang up top, showering us both in rocks, grit and flecks of magma. Ashirai yelped as her blood-and-sweat-soaked hands slid down another inch. Her eyes caught hold of mine. They were filled with pure terror. I grit my teeth and allowed my own hands to slip a couple of inches. _Just a little more…c'mon!_

Ashirai's wall jut upwards, forcing her closer to me while threatening to squash the both of us. Just as I readied myself for my rescue effort though, a loud rumbling sound gurgled above us and my head snapped up to watch in horror as a river of magma and rocks started falling down toward us from the very top of the mountains.

"_NO!_" I howled. I had no more time left! If I waited, all that'd be left was a melted demigod!

Bunching my leg muscles and pushing my feet back into the wall, I catapulted myself across the fissure, right at Ashirai below me. Howling in terror (and a bit for heroic effects) I smashed into her stomach and sent the both of us flying under the lip and into a cave beneath it. The magma and rocks washed over the spot we were a moment before. As it was, I could feel the intense heat of the magma and some of the rocks clattered off of the wall and smacked me in the back and arms.

We landed with a thud. I was the first to react, making a face as I overlooked the stunned Ashirai's condition. The magma had been too much for her skin to handle. She had a nasty burn all up her right arm, but it looked like it'd be nothing the healers in the infirmary couldn't fix. Her hands were ripped up and bleeding heavily and her shirt was torn, showing her bleeding and battered ribcage. It was possible she had a broken rib or two. She was taking short deep breaths.

"O-okay, can you hear me? Ashirai?" She blinked but didn't respond, starring up at the ceiling of the cave in exhaustion.

Not knowing what else I should do, I unclipped the belts holding the excess sleeve on my left arm and took it off. She hissed when I wrapped it around her ribs, giving me the only sign she wasn't completely in shock yet. Using the belts I made it into a make-shift bandage. It wasn't enough though. Her eyes were rolling back in her head and panic filled me.

"A-Ashirai! Ashi! C'mon! Say something! P-please," Though I knew it wouldn't do me any good, I couldn't help but beg. There was nothing in the cave that could help us, and we were at least a hundred feet up on a sheer cliff. I couldn't carry her down with me, and if I left her she might die. I was stumped, scared and exhausted. What else could I do…? Even if someone climbed up to us they'd be too tired to bring her down too. Shivering, I curled up against her, trying to think it over. But the only thought that came to mind was to lay there and give up.

Shaking my head, I pulled myself together. My apathy wouldn't get the better of me, as much as I craved that it would. Pulling myself away from the semi-conscious half-blood, I poked my head out of the cave and looked down at all the starring demigods below. Eerie silence was replaced with shocked gasps when they saw me. A couple of brave souls had started climbing to try to see what was going on, but most were already retreating back down when more magma and rocks rained down towards them. There were even new lava streams closer to the base than normal. It was as if the mountain itself was angry at us. Only one climber continued determinedly. He hopped from rock to rock using his thick hooves and strong legs to bounce over small streams of magma and to redirect himself with little trouble around the larger ones.

"_EON!"_ He called, pausing and gripping a rock to keep from falling. His Camp Half-Blood T-shirt was ripped and eroded from stray rocks and magma. I had little choice but to tip my metaphorical hat to him. He was doing a lot better than I ever thought possible of him.

"_Anderson?_" I called down to the satyr, leaning as far down as I dared. "_WHAT_ are you doing!"

"Don't worry! Thalia and Annabeth are getting help! Just hang in there! I'm coming up!" Without waiting for my reply the ex-music teacher continued his ascent, narrowly dodging a rainfall of fresh hot magma spraying down at him.

I couldn't help but glower at him. He made it look so easy when we'd been on this thing for over _two_ hours, _just_ to get stuck in a life-and-death situation painfully close to the top. I crawled back into the cave and rolled onto my back next to Ashirai. Her breathing had softened and muffled moans came every so often. She seemed to be asleep. My eyes grew heavy and I almost joined her when Anderson arrived in a loud clatter. I shot up, wide awake again, but Ashirai didn't stir. Without a word he went to her and began doing his natural voodoo-magic stuff.

He got me to shift her onto her side so he could check her ribs, proving my suspicions correct. She had two broken ribs. The satyr then pulled out his reed pipes (somehow unharmed from the magma) and began to play them. Green sparks danced around her ribs and arm, sealing the cuts closed and easing her burn a little.

"Alright, help me get her up." He ordered. We each took one of Ashi's arms and dragged her up. He started for the cave mouth.

"W-what're you doing?" We stepped closer to the mouth.

"Getting her out."

"As _much_ as I don't like her right now, I am _not_ throwing her off a cliff, dude!" I growled at him.

"On the count of three." Anderson said, shifting Ashirai in a way we could easily drop her over.

"What—NO!"

"One…" His hooves shifted apart and dug into the ground.

"_ANDERSON!_"

"Two…" One hand was pressed to her back, not trusting me to do my part.

"_STOP IT!"_

"THREE!"

Anderson shoved Ashi over the cliff as I stared in horror after her. For such a short guy he was more than strong enough to shove my arms off of her to get the job down. I flinched when I heard a soft thud somewhere below.

The satyr looked out the cave with narrowed eyes.

"Do you trust me?" he asked.

"What do you think?"

"Good."

He shoved me out too.

The last thing I remember after that was slamming into something hard, furry, feathery and white. Then everything went black.

The sound of banging, crashing and yelling woke me. Opening my eyes groggily, I was greeted with the very familiar sight of the infirmary around me. Its creative white walls, white beds, white sheets, white ceiling and of course, casually-dressed 'doctors' told me that if anything, I was still alive somehow.

There was another crash and I turned to see what was going on. Ashirai was sat up in her bed beside me, yelling something in another language while tossing whatever she could reach at someone. She looked alright other than for some reason being covered in soot. When I took a better look at the cowering girl in front of her though, I realised what the problem was right away.

I leaned back tiredly.

"Stop it…" I groaned, rubbing my face. Ashi stopped in the middle of throwing a tray, resulting in it flying out of her hand and hitting a random kid in the back of the head. He collapsed immediately.

"E-Eon…" She looked unsure of what to do next.

"Did Tabatha say she was sorry?" I asked, looking up at the young daughter of Hecate. Her hazel eyes held a mix of fear and relief at my intervention. She had light brown skin and shoulder-length dirty blonde hair. Standing up, she was about half a head taller than me at fourteen years old, making her the councillor of her cabin. She too was covered in soot, though it was likely from throwing stuff in the hearth outside, trying to light it.

"I-I did, b-but—"

"_But_ she gave me a potion that _exploded_ when I _drank_ it!" Ashi snarled, glaring at her icily.

Tabatha shivered and backed away more.

"Just go," I waved Tabatha off and she eagerly fled. I looked back to Ashirai when she was gone. "She didn't mean it. She just has…trouble…with labelling things…and remembering the difference between napalm and ambrosia."

Ashi gave me a sceptical look but didn't pursue the subject. We sat in silence together for a while. I was starting to wonder when someone was going to help the unconscious kid off the floor when at last Ashirai spoke.

"Thank you…" She started, looking down at her hands. "If not for you, I'd probably be dead right now…"

"I-I didn't do much—"

"But you did!" Her eyes met mine. They were torn between anger, embarrassment and something else... "If you didn't get me off that cliff when you did, the magma would've done worse." She raised her arm to show me the missing burn mark. The only thing that showed it was even there was the slight red tint of her recovering skin. "And I…am sorry."

"Erm…o…kay?"

Zeus's daughter gave me a weak smile.

"I'm stuck here the rest of the night…but I…want you to know… You won."

"I—but I didn't get to the top!" I stared at her in surprise.

She shook her head. "I know, but I pushed you into it, and you saved my life to boot. It's…the least I can do." She paused and her eyes hardened like the Ashirai I knew. "I won't ask you about the quest for now…but I expect an answer soon."

"Alright," Was all I could manage to say.

I left the infirmary after Argus gave me the thumbs up and _many_ proud winks, just to be swarmed by an army of hyperactive demigods when I got outside. They pestered me with questions like "were you scared?"; "how hot was it up there?"; "does it hurt?"; "what'd you do in the cave with her?" (some stupid Aphrodite kid asked that one). When I had finally managed to dig my way through my new fans I found Thalia. She gave me a bear hug that almost sent me right back into the infirmary.

"Idiot!" She choked, a huge smile on her face. She ruffled my hair and I gave her a glare, though it was half-hearted. I wasn't an outcast anymore. I was _actually_ a part of Camp Half-Blood! It was such an amazing feeling to belong _somewhere_ at last; but it hurt a little when I noticed the torn look on Thalia's face when she noticed it too. She was probably hoping that I'd stay with her and return to the Hunters of Artemis, regardless of my record-breaking aim (you heard me).

The night was even more energetic than earlier. People were bustling about and gossiping about the day's events. Mr. D forbade anyone from going back on the climbing walls, as they were still acting erratically for reasons he couldn't (or wouldn't) explain. After that we sang around the campfire like normal and returned to our cabins for curfew. Everything seemed to have returned to normal until I crawled into bed. There, I made a discovery that proved my dream wasn't just a "dream." Under my covers lay a palm-sized smooth emerald stone with a leather string through the top, exactly like the one in Monster Ranchers. I stared at it in wonder until I managed to utter a single word.

"Crap."

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Yaaaaaaaay chapter's done. I think this chapter went really well. Lotsa humour, some action and a bit of insight to Ashi's past. 3 There's a reason the walls are acting strange…but that is for a later chapter to be explained… So I hope you liked the chapter. R&R please. Byez~


	8. Chapter 8: A Birthday Bash To Remember

Disclaimer:  
~I don't own _Percy Jackson and the Olympians_ and its characters, Rick Riordan does.  
~I DO own Eon though, as much as she hates to admit it. I own Aisu too. No taking them.  
~Ashi belongs to Worenx, so _no _taking. _Or else…_  
~Forsythe is Miffin's. NO TAKEY!  
~Devil's Go Through The Night is a song; I dunno who owns it. Sorry, but it's good.  
~I don't own Digimon or Digivices. Eon's data-gift just looks/acts like the one from season 3.  
~Full Metal Alchemist doesn't belong to me. I just reference Ed's 'clapping' motion.  
~The Legend of Zelda does not belong to me, nor will it ever. The REAL games are just awesome. [I do NOT consider any of the ones with Windwaker graphics real OR canon.]

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**NOTES!** It is stated in Wikia that stygian iron _might_ only be useable by underworld deities, like Nico and Hades. Due to Eon's unusual connection to the underworld though, her weapon is a mixture of celestial bronze, imperial gold and stygian iron, all of which she can use without trouble. Don't ask how the gift-giver knew she had this "ability"; all will be explained as time goes on…

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In response to some anonymous reviews: I will not disclaim the name Eon because she is my character, who I created _**years**_ before the book "Eon" came out (in 2003 in fact), AND is female, as the name Eon is a feminine name and a reference to an extremely long time period. You don't disclaim the name George because it was the name of a president. Plus, according to Miffin, that "Eon" is a girl. Not a boy. Also, if you do not like my fic, do not read it. Simple. But if you really feel so inclined to complain about it, at least attempt to do so in coherent English. You look like a fool using no punctuation, misspelling and missing words. It also helps if you do not call Eon male when she is clearly classified as a female with the reference words "she" and "her" and is a reoccurring character in my other fics.

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That's right folks. We get to meet Papa this chapter! Hold onto your hats and dentures, because you're gonna be surprised! ...Or not. Many probably saw this coming, but there's still surprises left! ' w' I love confusing people with deviously thought-out plotlines. Time for some violence and cake! So enjoy!

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**Chapter 8: A Birthday Bash To Remember**

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As she promised, Ashirai stopped bothering me about the quest. It was a huge relief to have her off my back. That is, until I noticed that the only reason she stopped was because she was doing everything she could to avoid me. She came to meals early and left quickly; she never went to the sing-alongs and whenever I practiced swordsmanship she immediately left, leading to some of the Aphrodite kids making lewd enough comments that Thalia was forced to deck one in the face. They stopped immediately after that, but that didn't solve my problem. When I finally built up the courage to challenge her about it though, she just told me that she'd been busy and promptly vamoosed. She vanished completely after that.

But even in Ashirai's absence, I was plagued with constant reminders of the quest. Councillors gave me sidelong looks as they passed and Chiron emphasized symbolism in my monsters and mythology classes to the extreme. This resulted in my ADHD taking over during class. Symbolism was nice and all, but it wasn't nearly as entertaining as spending the lesson imagining burying Ashi up to her neck in sand and using her head as a stool. Chiron was disappointed when he found that I'd been spacing out during his lessons, but continued to try to teach me anyway, as futile as we both knew that was. The worst and most physical reminder though, was the emerald stone necklace. I decided to keep it hidden under my pillow instead of bringing it out during the day, but every night its presence reminded me about the missing goddess and Ashirai's prophecy. It was starting to drive me mad! So finally, five days after the accident on the climbing walls, I finally manned-up (figuratively, anyways), listened to my withered conscience and wore it outside.

The camp was bustling with activity. Campers ran from cabin to cabin decked out in full-body armour, swords, shields and helms. I watched in confusion for a few minutes until Thalia strutted up to me with a red plumy feather in her hair. She was carrying the same articles as everybody else, as well as a red-plumed helm. She dumped the stuff in my arms unceremoniously. I nearly fell over under the sudden weight of the equipment. Even after more exercise than I'd ever wanted to get, my arms were still scrawny.

"Suit up," she said, grinning at me, "For the first time ever, Artemis has created an alliance with Ares."

"Say what now?" Thalia had to help me tug on the armour. It was still too big for me. The helm wasn't much better, slipping over my eyes every time I tipped my head forward. Have I mentioned how much I hate being short?

"We're playing capture the flag today. Everyone with a red plume is with us. The enemies are Athena and her allies with blue."

"Athena…you mean Annabeth's mom? Isn't she your friend?"

For a moment Thalia paused, but it quickly passed.

"She is, but there's nothing like some friendly competition every now and then. We just go to the woods and fight each other. First one with the other team's flag wins. Simple. Besides, I've got a bone to pick with someone on their team…" She muttered to herself.

"Alright then…" With that, Thalia led me towards the woods.

I'd never been in the woods before. Surprised I actually listened to Chiron for once? Well, considering my previous wonderful adventures tromping through the woods and getting attacked by every monster and his uncle, I wasn't exactly tempted to commune with nature in the forest. It was nearly high noon when we arrived, but most of the sun was cut out by the dense canopy above us. I shivered, not being too fond of dark places. This was the perfect place for an ambush, whether mortal or monster.

A number of ugly-looking kids were lining us up and telling us their battle plan. A big girl with a large spear was shouting out orders. She would be leading a full-on attack across the line while two groups headed up the flanks in secret. The children of Hephaestus were set to work digging traps and putting strange glass jars with a green liquid at the bottom. According to them it was called "Greek Fire;" Thalia told me not to touch it. _Ever_. Forsythe, the one-eyed councillor for Demeter's cabin, would lead his siblings after the initial assault and grow plants to strengthen our defences. One more group, smaller than the others, would stay behind to guard the flag. Naturally, I was picked to be in that group. Thalia grudgingly decided to stay by my side, casting glares at the Ares councillor from time to time. She took her job protecting me seriously, although I could tell that she was itching to be a part of the action.

We waited for Chiron to give the signal to begin. Tabatha tromped up next to me cheerfully. Her helm was a better fit than my own and she was wearing, gods help me, giant _cat gloves _on each hand plus a small round shield. How she managed to hold the shield with those gloves on was a mystery to me. I noticed that a number of potion bottles hung around her waist as well. None of them were labelled. I began to worry.

"Hey Eon! Can't _wait_ to start, huh?" Tabatha was different from most of the other cabin leaders. She didn't seem to care whether I helped out on the quest or not, instead focusing her time on helping her siblings and Hephaestus's kids try to light the hearths. Though we weren't really friends, we weren't _not_ friends either. It was nice having an oddball like her around in awkward situations. I could always use a quick laugh. Plus, she would probably make a great meat-shield if I needed someone taller to duck behind.

"Y-yeah…" My eyes swept over her potion belt again. "So…what're you doing again?"

"Oh, I'm going up the side. They thought my potions might help if we get attacked." She beamed at me and the cold hand gripping my gut vanished. So long as she wasn't going to "protect" the flag too—she was more of a danger to herself and the team than the enemies! If only she _labelled_ her things beforehand! "Nice necklace, by the way," Her eyes slid to the green stone around my neck and I unconsciously held it close. "Where'd you get it?"

"Dunno. Secret admirer maybe?" My voice cracked a little at the fib, but she didn't seem to catch on. Thalia on the other hand, straightened a little. I grimaced.

Tabatha opened her mouth to continue, but the Ares kid leading her group called her name venomously and she was forced to retreat back to him (very likely to apologize for setting down one of her potions where a curious camper could grab it. Chances were, it probably wasn't one of her famous healing potions). I had no time to sigh in relief, as Thalia circled around me and looked at the necklace as well.

"When did you get this?" She ran her fingers over the impossibly smooth surface.

"I uh…"

"I can feel a strange mist in it. You didn't fight a monster to get this, did you?" Her eyes bore into me, concern showing.

It was a possible assumption, I guess. Once you took a part of the monster in battle, it became a trophy of sorts, or a magical item like my snazzy griffin glasses. I wasn't a fighter though, and she knew it, so I retorted, rather unpleasantly: "What—_no_! I'm not nuts!" _Just a liar…_

"Then where—" Thankfully the loud call of the conch shell stopped her from continuing her interrogation. "C'mon! Let's retreat further in."

She led me back to where the Ares cabin had hid the banner twenty feet up in a tree. Per regulations, it was entirely visible and there were only two guards in front of it: Thalia and moi. It'd just be a _lot_ harder to reach than if it was on the ground, especially with Thalia overwhelming them with a barrage of arrows while I stood around and did nothing productive. Y'know, psyche them out (and by that I mean make them laugh their pants off until Thalia shot them.).

The sound of battle echoed around us, making me shiver. I could hear screaming, yelling, clanging, crying and even the odd explosion (likely from Tabatha). Thalia put her hand on my shoulder, trying to help. It didn't. I could feel my heart pounding in my chest and my hair stood on end. I didn't like it. Something felt…wrong… I needed out, but they were depending on me! I couldn't abandon them now! They'd _never_ let me live it down! The girl who jumped across a _mountain_ to save the daughter of Zeus was afraid of a little yelling and scratching? All hope for Hestia would be lost—did I just think that? No, positive thinking, Eon. Chances are that somebody's going to kill you before you even have to worry about the quest! Er. Positive thinking is not my strong suit, okay?

Thalia's hand retreated and I was brought back to reality when she nocked her bow and aimed for some shivering bushes. Tensing, I held my sword up; ready to throw it and run the moment we were attacked. Worked every time. Thankfully I didn't have to embarrass myself as a nymph came out of the bushes, gave us one nervous nod, and hurried on her way into a nearby tree. I breathed a loud sigh of relief.

"It won't be _that_ bad," Thalia comforted, lowering the bow. "You've been to the infirmary with worse injuries than a couple of scratches and bruises."

"Mmn…" Very reassuring, Thalia.

As the time drew on I noticed the sounds of battle slowly slipping away. Either I was falling asleep from lack of activity or they were moving farther away. But when Thalia stepped on my foot and I noticed a strange thick layer of purple-blue mist swirling around our feet, I decided something was up. Thalia did too apparently, and she nocked the bow once more.

"Who's there?" She called.

There was silence for a few seconds and Ashirai emerged from the brush. Her eyes were glowing an eerie blue in the half-darkness and the mist ran up her legs like an obedient pet and sank back down toward us. I tensed. I hadn't seen her for two days, and I certainly hadn't expected her to show up with a scythe in hand and enough creepy fog to suit any B-rated horror film. She smiled at me coldly.

"We need to talk." Blunt as ever I see.

I glanced at Thalia but it was like she didn't hear. She wasn't even looking Ashirai's way!

"Hey, Thalia," I whispered nervously, but the reaction was the same. Confused, I pinched my cheek—nope, definitely awake. What was going on then?

Ashirai's grin grew more devious.

"Why don't we get rid of your protector for a few minutes and talk in private?"

"How about not?" Suddenly, Thalia flinched and nocked her bow, aiming twenty feet away from Ashirai's position. I gawked at her when she yelled, "_There_ you are! I knew you'd make your way here! What a perfect time to pick up where we left off!"

It was then that I noticed that 1), Ashirai had a blue-plumed feather sticking out of her hair, and 2), Thalia had either gone off her rocker or something about this strange fog was messing her up, _bad_. Thalia fired and swore, racing off into the trees and leaving me alone with the older demigod.

I didn't need a mirror to imagine how I looked at the moment. My eyes moved back to Ashirai when Thalia had completely vanished from sight. I could only hope that she didn't fall down a trap hole or run into some enemies while in this state of mind, whatever state it was.

"The Mist can be a powerful tool if used correctly," Ashirai answered my wordless question. So she was manipulating the Mist? But, _how_? One of the fewlessons that I had retained from Chiron's lessons was his explanation of the Mist. It made people think they were seeing things, but it varied between race and the willpower of the person using it. Thalia had amazing willpower and could do some pretty cool stuff with the Mist. How then, could Ashirai control it so completely that Thalia believed she was chasing an actual person and leave her principal completely unguarded in a hostile environment?

"I'm tired of these games," Ashirai continued, twirling her scythe slowly, never taking her eyes off of me. "Destiny waits for no hero, and you know this. We are running out of time. You know this too." She stopped directly in front of me. Her eyes hardened, her gaze as sharp as a dagger. They flashed strangely. "We are starting the quest tomorrow, and there is _nothing_ you can do to stop us. You will lead the way for us, and we will find the goddess."

"What's the answer I'm looking for? Oh yeah! _No_." I gripped the sword so tightly my hand began to hurt. Her voice had changed when she spoke. Was she trying to control me too? I grit my teeth angrily. That had to be it…she was ignoring her promise and trying to _force_ me into completing the quest! Rage smouldered inside of me. Who did she think she was? It was then that the rational part of my mind (also known as the smallest part) piped up, pushing my anger aside. If she could control the Mist this well, why couldn't she control me too? She'd sent Thalia tearing off like a squirrel after a demonically-possessed nut, but I wasn't feeling a sudden urge to obey her.

Ashirai's eyes widened for a moment when she noticed this too, but it was quickly replaced with a fierce yet pleased laugh. It chilled my bones. Seriously, no one who didn't run around wearing a "Hello, my name is TOTALLY NOT A VILLAIN" nametag should be able to cackle like that.

"So you _are_ the one!" She crowed, sliding into a battle stance. Surprised, I mimicked her. I had no idea how I was supposed to beat her with a short sword; I mean the scythe had to be at _least_ three times longer than my dinky eye-poker! "I wasn't wrong! First in your room, and then on the mountain too—you _are_ the fire!" The scythe's eyes shone a creepy purple as she became more and more excited. At last she shouted, "We'll see who leads now, fiery one!" With that, she dashed at me with incredible speed and swung her scythe at me.

For the first time ever, I was thankful to have ADHD. Twisting my sword around, I managed to catch the curved blade before it cleaved me in two and shakily held it in place. It bit into my right shoulder deeply, and I forced her away clumsily by bashing my shield into her stomach. It barely delayed her from her second strike though. She shot her hand out at me, smashing me in the chest. Like a fool, I grabbed her arm and the next thing I knew I had 10000 volts of electricity racing all throughout my body.

I screamed, but no one came to my rescue. The Mist had blocked them out. For all they knew, I was still with Thalia chasing down some phantom camper. Maybe the flag even moved. I didn't know and realising that these sorts of distractions would get me killed, I tried to cast them aside. It was quite hard to ignore the "_Devil's Go Through The Night_" song playing in my head though. Background music is cool in games, but they are _really_ distracting in a real do-or-die fight.

She retracted her hand and I fell to my knees, twitching violently from the shock.

"Hmph…that's all you've got? Pathetic…I've fought _rats_ stronger than you!" Granted, they had probably been over six feet tall and ate flesh instead of cheese. Her voice suddenly changed from condescending to demanding. "Why were you chosen? _WHY?_ I'm stronger than you! I'm smarter than you! I have more experience than _anyone!_" Her foot connected with my chin and I landed on my back, stunned. The twitching was dying down, but she didn't seem to notice. "Why? _WHY! _You're weak! Pathetic! Stupid! Useless! Inexperienced!" My previous ire returned with a vengeance, expanding with every word. My vision was changing. At first it was like tunnel-vision, like I was about to pass out. Then a strange fog began to creep across my eyes, turning everything a fiery shade of red. My breathing became irregular as I tried to hold down my rage. Ashirai didn't even notice, continuing her angry rant. My nails dug into the ground and my teeth ground against each other.

_Oh no, not again._ I recognised this. Five years ago, when I had been in grade one in Japan, some kids had bullied me because of my looks. Teachers there allow kids to get picked on. It's to teach them to solve their own problems, even if it means getting the tar beaten out of them. It started only as taunts and jeers, then moved to insults, and then pushing. One day they went too far. The next thing I knew, one of them had a pair of scissors jammed through his calf. I had lost control and hurt someone. They vanished after that, but for some reason my mom never freaked out when she got a call telling her what happened. It wasn't until today that I figured out that those kids didn't move away. They weren't human. And now it was happening all over again.

Ashirai stomped on my face, yelling out something in Greek. She screamed angrily, the scythe flashed down toward my face. I lost it.

I'm not sure how to describe what happened next. I wasn't myself, you see. My reflexes took over and my mind got kicked to the back seat. It was like watching a movie with those retro red and blue 3D glasses while half-asleep. I was sure of one thing though: being like this, with my actions completely out of my control, against Ashirai of all people, was one of the scariest moments of my life. What started as a fight for some sort of dominance I didn't understand had evolved into a battle for blood. This fight was going to be to the death.

My hands clapped around the blade when it was mere inches from my nose. Somehow, in my rage-induced state, I held it away from my face with little to no effort at all, surprising Ashirai. When I threw it aside and swept her feet from under her though, she caught on quickly that Eon had left the building. And you know what happened next?

She smiled.

I flipped onto my hands and feet, mule-kicking at her face. She blocked with the scythe as I took that moment to jump up and retreat a safe distance away. She followed my lead and stood, legs apart and the scythe held with both hands, ready for a real battle at long last. Her eyes glowed with anticipation, as if she'd been waiting for this for an infinitely long time. Yet even in my mad state, my crazed mind held my strict belief that fighting differed between a game and reality. In a game I always attacked first. In real life, I countered.

She attacked first.

Electricity sparked around her demon-scythe and she swung at me wildly. Hopping back as she swung, I somehow dodged the majority of the attacks by merely leaning back or to the side. After ten or so consecutive misses, she opened her guard for a moment and I thrust my sword at her. The scythe hilt came up and angled the sword skyward, opening my own guard the way Percy had done days before. Due to my strange condition though, instead of fear I only felt an eerie calmness settle over me. I felt vaguely satisfied, like all was going according to plan. What plan? I had no idea. My conscious mind was gaping in disbelief, wondering how I had even survived this long!

Ashirai yanked the hilt down her hands so the blade approached me while holding my guard open. At the last second, I released the sword entirely and ducked between her legs. Surprised, she turned just in time for her face to meet my foot. She yelped, replacing it with an irritated growl when some blood dribbled down her nose. She slashed at me again and I jumped backwards to avoid it. That turned out to be a foolish move, as she was much faster than I expected, especially while wielding such a huge weapon.

With an enraged howl, she slashed at me while I was still airborne. She caught my right arm and pulled the blade down along the shoulder to my elbow, then into my stomach. Thankfully it wasn't too deep, but it was still enough for a spark of pain to get through to me. I yelled out and grabbed for the scythe. Electricity flowed through me again but I endured it this time, holding the scythe away as I roundhouse kicked her in the face. She managed to dodge to the left, so I clipped her in the shoulder instead. Hopefully it'd leave a bruise.

We separated again, and things began getting weirder. Electricity started crackling around Ashirai's body, drawing her black and red hair up and lighting up the dark forest. I began to feel really hot. I thought it was my rage at first, but I vaguely noticed flames licking at the ground around my feet. Startled, my mind managed to catch a hold of itself just long enough to see that I was encircled by flames. But where had it come from? I looked to Ashirai and the answer became obvious: me. I was the fire. And the puzzle pieces slowly moved into place.

I had no burns when Peleus set my shirt on fire, and I hadn't been barbequed when he'd attacked me before Chiron showed up. It wasn't just dumb luck like I'd assumed. There was only one explanation for this: I was fire-proof. The magma on the wall was hot, but it never burned my flesh like it did to Ashirai. Searching my mind, I remembered the rocks hitting me when I tackled her off the rock face, but no magma. No, the magma _had_ hit me, but it hadn't done a thing.

"So you've finally seen it," Ashirai growled. Her scythe's eyes shone brightly and a strange purple mist poured out of its mouth. This mist didn't look natural, or safe for that matter. It followed the scythe's movements, circling around it lazily. "It won't save you now though."

The beast inside of me took over again when she charged. I managed to dodge under the first sweep and actually _slashed_ her cheek with my nails (were they longer?). Ashi retaliated by jamming the hilt hard into my back, temporarily paralysing me with a strong burst of electricity and a well-placed hit. Blood ran down the side of her face as she looked down at me coldly. With a clean sweep she left a shallow cut all down my back. My pain-filled cry ended abruptly though when a strange tugging sensation starting from the cut crawled throughout my body, draining me. _What the? _I twitched a hand. Realising that I was free once more, I forced myself forward and spun around to see the spectral remains of the ghostly purple mist being absorbed into the scythe's eyes and blade-filled mouth.

Ashirai's smirk received a snarl. "He feeds off of others' energy. It's a lot easier than changing batteries after every fight." She thrust the scythe forward and the eyes shot yellow-purple bolts of electricity at me. I ducked and rolled away, drew the flames from within and lobbed a large fireball at her. It turned out once the scythe was firing, it couldn't easily be moved. She took the shot head on and cursed, stumbling away from me. I began to retreat, only to fall down a poorly placed trap hole. If I lived, I was going to find the idiot who dug this hole and bury them in it.

"HAH!" Ashirai crowed, obviously believing that she had won.

Luckily, my foot smashed into a bottle of Greek fire right at that moment. Green flames erupted around me, engulfing the entire pit (I thought this game was supposed to be _non-_lethal!). Ashirai's head appeared at the top of the drop, her eyes widening in surprise as she watched the fire run over my body, into my cuts and bruises and begin to heal me. The drained feeling slipped away and I felt completely reenergized. The wounds remained although the bleeding stopped, either sealed from the fire or the strange magic that ran through my veins. With a shout, I shot my arms out, ordering the flames up to her. She stumbled back, barely managing to avoid the green and red flames dancing around the clearing.

"_WHAT!_" She cried partly in surprise, partly in anger. Spinning her scythe at a ridiculous speed, she warded off the flames. But that wouldn't stop me.

I cleared the hole in one amazing jump that'd put Olympic athletes to shame and dashed at her on all fours like a crazed wolf. Ducking around her side, I got up close behind her, slashing her shoulder with a flaming claw-like hand. She screamed angrily, swiping at me before returning her attention to the quickly advancing flames. I had her overwhelmed. She couldn't take me on while holding back the deadly flames.

"N-no…" She grit her teeth together, seeing her predicament. Her eyes pinched shut, unwilling to admit defeat. "I-I can't—I _won't!_" With a cry, she flung herself at me, her body sparking wildly and out of control. She had a longer reach, but I was faster. My attacks were well aimed, yet she had a better defence. We were on even footing, so to speak, as we jumped around the clearing, attacking each other savagely. The clouds whirled above us and parted, allowing lightning to rain down around us, hoping to strike one of us down. Fire raced along the ground, devouring anything unfortunate enough to come in its path. Her slashes were wild and unpredictable, but I allowed myself to back up and roll with the attacks when I was hit, minimizing the damage. When she opened her guard, I slashed up at her or coaxed the flames to slither around her, burning and cutting her, but not enough to make her back down. Soon, even with the flames raging around us, I began to tire. My breathing became short and fast, my arms and hands throbbed from the incredible strain I'd been putting on them. That was when I realised that Ashirai wasn't even panting. She was in better shape than me; she had to be to survive for so long. Her experience and strength would win the battle at this rate.

"_Rrrnnnghh!_" I snarled, taking a step back. I had to finish this quickly, before I was too weak to. But _how_?

The answer never came.

Ashirai's head suddenly shot up, looking away before retreating into a tree. Still crazed, I didn't see or hear what was coming. It didn't really matter though. It was all over in an instant. The ground shook violently and a tidal wave washed over the entire clearing, smashing me into the trees and dousing the flames around us. My rage subsided the moment the freezing water rinsed my skin. I heard snapping and cracking, and begged whatever god had sent this water that it was only the trees around me and not my bones.

The water drained, vanishing just as fast as it had appeared. Gasping for air, I coughed up what seemed like a ton of water. I weakly rolled onto my side and caught sight of a hundred demigods, all staring at me. In front of them stood Percy, Annabeth, Thalia, and Chiron in his centaur form. Percy dropped a shell onto the ground. It was dripping wet. None of them looked pleased.

"What have you done?" Chiron asked, looking around the clearing.

I looked as well, gasping at the sight. The clearing was completely devastated. Not a single tree, shrub or blade of grass had survived the fire's powerful touch. The clearing was at least twice as big as it had been before. The ground was black and ashy.

_I_ had done this. Just who or _what_ was I?

With a whimper of pain, I forced myself onto my feet. It hurt but it was tolerable, so I knew that I hadn't broken any bones.

I stepped away from the campers slowly.

"E-Eon…" Thalia said, somehow managing to look scared, hurt and worried at the same time. Behind her stood a couple of Ares kids with a blue banner.

Like a scared animal, I took another step back.

"I-I…I didn't…I couldn't…" My eyes searched the clearing wildly for Ashirai, but she was nowhere to be seen. Of course. Pin the blame on me. What better way to force me away from camp? Another step back, and before anyone could convince me otherwise, I turned and fled as quickly as I could. It's amazing how much pain and terror can force an exhausted kid to run. No one followed me, but I ran on anyway until exhaustion dragged me down. I fell to my knees and toppled over into a shallow stream. For once, I allowed the coolness of the water to wash over me and ease my tiredness. I couldn't go back. Not right now. What would they think? That I was a crazed pyro that liked killing trees? My heart stung. I might've killed someone in my rampage. How would I have known?

As the time drew on the sound of the water lulled me into an exhausted trance. I closed my eyes for what felt like a minute, and opened them again to find the forest tinted a bloody-red. My heart almost stopped when I saw the red. I was so scared that I might be going into another one of my strange fits….but nothing happened, and I slowly relaxed again. Or at least I did until I noticed that there was a man watching me.

I shot up, just for my hand to slip and to plummet back into the water. After a few coughs and splutters, I got back up and crawled out of the stream, looking like an idiot. My clothes were a mess: I was covered in cuts (most of which were already healing thanks to my flaming boost); I was sure I had a black eye; I could hardly move without my muscles screaming in protest and I was exhausted and soaked to the bone. Scratch that: I actually looked like a half-drowned, half-dead idiot.

The man just smiled at me cheerfully, as if he saw bleeding kids nearly drown every day. Heck, maybe he did for all I knew. Camp could be scary place. He wore a yellow-green hat and fishing vest, a long pair of red and white flower-patterned shorts and a blue and yellow Hawaiian shirt (quite the fashion statement if I do say so myself.). His hair was either black or dark, dark brown, and he had a salt & pepper beard. His smile warmed me after the crappy day I'd had, and I couldn't help but give a weak one of my own.

"'Evening," He greeted, casting a line out deeper into the stream.

"Erm. Hi," I said, unsure of what to say. How did you greet someone after nearly dying to a cackling madwoman? I doubted that a remark like: 'So, been attacked by any crazy scythe-swinging nutbars lately? And howsabout that weather?' would go over well.

"Lovely night, isn't it? Perfect for fishing."

"Never fished before," I admitted, as strange as it was for me to have grown up off of raw fish and rice. Hey, I just bought the stuff. It wasn't like I went out to the ocean and caught the ingredients myself.

His smile grew and he beckoned to me with a wave. Cautiously, I stepped up to him. As soon as I was within arm's reach, he reeled up and put the fishing rod into my hands.

"Uh…wha—"

"You pull this trigger back as you wind up for the throw, then release and send the line out," He said, readjusting my hands on the rod so I could cast the string. I gave him my best 'are you nuts?' look, but he wasn't swayed, his eyes twinkling in pleasure. So with a small sigh, I drew the rod over my shoulder, tugged on the trigger, and let the line loose.

It sailed over our heads and the lure landed in the deepest part of the stream.

"Good cast, you're a natural!" He laughed, meaning every word of it (even though I didn't feel like such a pro). He patted my shoulder, chatting on about the joys of fishing. Halfway through his explanation of the different lure types I got a hit, almost resulting me in losing the rod.

"A-ah! What _now_?" I choked, shakily fighting the angry fish on the other side of the line.

"Tug back on the rod to set the hook, then pull the rod up high and reel as you lower it so the line never goes slack," He instructed calmly. I obeyed, the fighting weakening as I did so. "Good, good! I can see it right there, a nice little guy!" A green fish-head broke the surface as it fought against the line, but I was stronger. I pulled it in faster, more eagerly. When only about three feet of line remained, the man stepped into the water and grabbed the fish expertly, plucked the lure out of its mouth, and showed me my prize. It wasn't very big (which was probably a good thing if he wanted to keep his rod), but I was filled with pride all the same. I mean, I was _exhausted_! How many other people go fishing after almost fighting to the death? Next time I nearly get killed, I'm going fishing.

His smile was true and oddly proud. He offered the fish to me. "Want to hold it?"

I looked over the slimy specimen and politely declined. "Uh, how about _not._" I was dirty enough as is; I didn't need fish boogers on me to boot.

With a chuckle the man placed the fish back into the water, where it quickly retreated.

"You get used to it after doing it for years," He ensured, looking me up and down, as if realising for the first time that I looked like I'd just been through a minefield. "I think that we should be getting you home now, shouldn't we, Eon? You'll freeze out here dressed like that." You mean to say that dented steel Greek armour, and a soaked shirt and shorts aren't good choices for a night of roughing it? Bummer.

"Yeah," I murmured, not wanting to even think what it'd be like going back to camp. Or maybe he meant going back to my home-home…but that wouldn't be any better with Scott and my jerk-of-a-mom…

He offered a hand to me and I took it without a second thought, feeling as safe for the first time in a long while. Maybe that was why I didn't question how he knew my name.

We were farther away from camp than I thought. I noticed that the moon was already up, and I heard the conch shell blown for dinner well before we found our way out of the woods. The man refused to leave my side, as much as I insisted I'd be fine (which was only about twice), until he'd seen to it that I got some food in me. So instead of heading for the cabins where I could get cleaned up, we headed for the mess hall. _Hoo boy is this gonna be awkward…_ was all I could think at the time.

Heads turned when we arrived. It was an eerie feeling, having hundreds of eyes staring at me as soon as I stepped foot in the mess hall. The only sound that I could hear was the faint hiss of whispering. I had to force myself to not shudder. I just wanted to eat, curl up and pretend that nothing happened. But of course it couldn't be that easy. As soon as we reached table three, Percy stood along with his Cyclops half-brother, Tyson. Before I could do anything, let alone _think,_ the Cyclops yelled out "_daddy!_" and charged at the man, giving him a bear hug that would've snapped anyone else's spine.

I stared in shock.

"Dad?" Percy asked, looking between him, Tyson, and me. "Why're you here?" He sounded faintly suspicious, which might have been due to the mischievous twinkle in the man—I mean Poseidon's—eyes.

Poseidon smiled down at his demigod son and somehow wriggled out of Tyson's grip like a slippery fish.

"I am here to do something that I wish I had the time to do when you were first brought to camp, Percy," he said, his voice holding a tint of regret. The god of the sea and storms then turned to me, his eyes full of pride. "Eon Conners and Ippikiookami," he began, his voice deep and dramatic. I suddenly felt sick, dreading what was coming next. "I, Poseidon, claim you as my own on this day, twelve years after you have entered this world." His smile widened. "Happy birthday."

A chill ran throughout me. The god of the sea was my dad. Poseidon was the father of a hydrophobe who could absorb fire. How did that make sense?

"Is this some sorta sick joke?" I couldn't help but ask, but even as I said it I knew that it was true. A glowing three-pronged trident had appeared over my head as he claimed me as his daughter. Well it certainly didn't help matters at the very least!

"You have a unique future ahead of you, Eon," the Earth-shaker said, apparently understanding my reluctance to believe that _he_ of all people was my dad. "One that I will not be able to share much of a part of. The least I can do for you is give you these." He waved his hand and the air rippled like water, producing a pair of black gloves with red trimming around the wrist and finger holes, and what honestly looked like a silver and red digivice (Oh _gods,_ does that mean that Aisu was really Aisumon?).

I took them cautiously and looked them over. The gloves didn't look like anything spectacular, though they fit like—well, a glove. The digivice, on the other hand, was obviously not one of those shake-n'-play deals. I looked back up at my dad, wondering why he'd give me such strange birthday presents.

"Clap the gloves together," He ordered and demonstrated in true Full Metal Alchemist style.

Reluctantly I did so, and almost jumped when they flashed a bright gold and hardened, lengthening into a pair of gauntlets. I stared at them for a matter of seconds, taking the magical item in. The fingers glowed a soft gold and were curved into thick and deadly-looking claws. Though they were clearly metal, they were still surprisingly flexible, capable of making fists, karate chop-hands, or taloned claws. The palms were rough and leather-like, but were also covered in some sort of dull bronze-gold metal. A thick bracer surrounded both wrists that glowed just as brightly as the fingers. The bracers and the reinforced knuckles seemed to be only for protection at first, though on closer inspection I noted a thin iron 'string' attached to it and the inner "claw" of the gauntlets. I looked to Poseidon for an explanation, but his expression told me I'd have to figure out the details about this weapon on my own.

"It is made of celestial bronze, imperial gold and stygian iron, prefect for amplifying your…abilities," he stated, his voice turning a little sour at his choice of words. "I had Hephaestus make the weapon himself, although due to his schedule, he could not fix the bug that results in it overheating over long periods of use. You must search him out if you wish for it to be fixed." His eyes turned to the digivice. "As for this, it is the most up-to-date encyclopaedia of our world compacted into one easy-to-hold device. Athena and Hermes worked together to create it, and it is not scheduled to be on the market for another few years. This is the only working prototype they were willing to part with." His eyes twinkled, and I had a feeling that they weren't "willing" to part with it at all. Sounds like my dear old dad had fingers as nimble as Hermes himself. "It should serve you well on your quests to come."

"Great…quest_s_," I emphasized the plural because as much as I wanted to deny it, I knew that I'd finally been roped into saving Hestia. This was the 'inverse' I had asked for. I was fire. He was storm—water. My eyes trailed away from Poseidon to table one. Instead of looking at me, Ashirai was picking at her food, her expression unreadable. I hoped that she was at least feeling guilty over the whole 'battle to the death' thing. I highly doubted it though.

"This is all very touching, Poseidon," Mr. D cut in from table twelve, snapping my attention to him, "but I believe that this child has had _enough _"excitement" for one day, and moving into a new cabin will be an exhausting task." He looked to me briefly before allowing his eyes to trail back to Poseidon. "If you don't mind, I have a camp to run. I am sure you are busy enough as is."

Wow, I never thought I'd see the day that Mr. D was _thoughtful_ of others, especially of _me_. Maybe he just didn't want all the stress to get to me and trigger another pyro fit; y'know, him being the god of wine and grape vines or something like that. And I don't think Zeus would be too pleased if I burnt the camp down on his watch to boot. Either way, it looked like my newfound dad would be leaving just hours after I met him. Poseidon patted my shoulder in a friendly manner, probably feeling my reluctance to hug him and call him "daddy," then gave Tyson a hug to match the one from earlier, and said a few words of encouragement to Percy.

His hand trailed through the air, liquefying it into his trademark weapon of power. The god of the sea then turned his back to us. He paused. "Please, forgive your mother, Eon…with Hestia missing, her words were…less thought out…" And he left camp without another word.

Maybe I would have forgiven her then, but he either forgot to add something or just assumed I wouldn't catch on.

The statement never denied that what she said was what she truly thought of me. And until she or Poseidon proved it otherwise, there would be no forgiveness from this demigod—or "mistake."

The tension evaporated from the mess hall as soon as the god vanished. Mr. D had some satyrs go and move the few belongings I had to cabin three while I got 'acquainted' with my new siblings. I was somewhat happy I was going to be leaving camp soon. For reasons I couldn't explain, Percy was hard for me to be around. Sure, training with him for an hour or so was alright, but I didn't like _talking_ to the guy. He just had this feeling to him. I noted that not _once_ in my time in camp had I seen him hurt or bleeding. It was creepy; unnatural even, given the amount of time he trained. Knowing that he was now my councillor and older brother instantly made it ten times worse. Tyson, on the other hand, was almost twice as tall as me, yet acted like a three-year-old. I was worried that he'd try to hug me and end up putting me in a body cast. Samuel and Cindy were suddenly starting to look _tolerable_.

So I listened to them talk for a while, picking at my food and toying with my gauntlets under the table. It turns out that clapping them together again dismisses them back into the gloves, though only when I willed it to. I still had yet to figure out what the wire was for. When I was starting to think that politely ignoring them and giving them vague answers wasn't going to be enough, we were sent away to the sing-along. I followed Percy and Tyson halfway to the beach before breaking off from them. They'd probably be annoyed when they found out that I'd ditched them (especially considering I was one of the few campers that _could_ sing), but I had more important things to do. Besides, I didn't feel like singing tonight.

I was mentally cursing myself as I navigated through the darkness, wishing that I'd've brought my griffin glasses with me. Infrared was _far _better than being near blind. And I didn't have the faintest clue on how to summon up a fireball to light the way, though I'd probably be too nervous to use it anyway after the accident earlier. So I waded through the darkness, hoping that by some stroke of luck I'd find my way back to the cabins.

Obviously I didn't. On the bright side, my detour led me to one of the people I was looking for (I'm pretty sure that the word "detour" no longer defines my journey if I ended up on the opposite side of camp!).

Thalia was standing in the strawberry fields, her face tilted up to the moon as if she was soaking in all of its glory. She didn't say anything when I approached.

"Hey," I greeted, looking up at the moon as well. It looked like a chunk had been bitten off by the man on the moon.

"Hey," Her voice was quiet and hard to read. That made it all the harder to figure out what to say next.

I inhaled the cool air, then said, "Sorry about the sudden…change. I'll miss Artemis's cabin. It was cool. Fun."

"Mm," Thalia grunted, finally tilting her head toward me. Her eyes shone in the half-light sadly, and she said, almost wistfully, "you could always come back, you know. Swear yourself loyal to Artemis and join the hunt." But even as she said it, the shadows in her eyes told me that she knew I could never join. Not because I wasn't allowed or anything, but because we both knew that fate didn't have that planned for me. Not any longer, anyway. Whatever my dad meant when he said he wouldn't be a part of my future, it wasn't because I was swearing myself to eternal maidenhood.

But the pain in Thalia eyes paused my response. She'd been through this before; lost a friend—friends—who would not or could not join her as a Hunter of Artemis. I'd felt something of the sort when I left Japan, but I could only imagine what it would feel like to never age and watch your friends slowly wither away.

I shook my head softly to clear the thought away. Now wasn't the time to think of such things. I had a quest to focus on, and while I couldn't go back to Artemis for help, I _could_ try to hold onto this friendship as long possible.

I jammed my hands into my pockets. My eyes focused on the huge pine on Half-Blood Hill instead of the girl beside me. "I'm leaving tomorrow. The, uh, 'accident' got me thinking. We don't have any more time to waste. Hestia's counting on us."

Surprise rippled through Thalia. Though I couldn't see her face, I'm not sure how I knew. It was like a sixth sense. Or maybe it was an eighth sense by now. Stupid mutating half-godly-DNA.

"O-oh. Have you talked to Chiron or Mr. D about it yet? Or Ashirai?"

"I'm sure that they both figured out something was up thanks to my little freak out in the forest," I growled bitterly. "So no, I didn't talk to them yet. I wanted to see you and Ashirai first."

"Why though?" She looked thoroughly mystified.

"Why else? I thought that you were supposed to protect me?" I gave her a half smile. "I want you to come on the quest with me. If you want to, that is."

Artemis's lieutenant starred at me. "You should have asked Ashirai first. I don't think—I shouldn't—" She shook her head and looked away.

"I don't care what Ashirai thinks," My eyes slid back to the pine. Thanks to the glow cast by the golden pillow case it looked almost like a Christmas tree. "I know you, and I trust you. And I'm sure that the Hunters can last another week or two with Jesse as lieutenant. Assuming she doesn't run them all off a cliff or something. Besides, you're the one that told me that it's bad to reject a quest. I don't want to go on it with Ashirai alone."

Thalia sighed.

"Quests can only have three people, Eon. If Ashirai doesn't agree that I should join you, there can be problems."

"What is this? Bad fanfiction?" I demanded, putting my foot down. "I don't care about old Greek heebee jeebees. I'm technically not even a _part_ of this quest, just a glorified GPS! I said you could come if you want. If you don't, that's fine, but it's up to you to explain to Artemis if I end up coming back to camp in a body bag." The mental image made me shiver, but I could see that I at least got through to her. Instead of waiting for her answer though, like a normal person, I turned and ran off into the night in search for the cabins once more.

By some stroke of luck, I found them with little difficulty this time. What's more, I was just in time to run head-first into the second person I was looking for: Ashirai.

The dunderhead—I mean thunderhead—looked down at me in surprise. Her hair was damp. Either she took a shower instead of going to the sing-along, or she was tossed into the lake by an angry Cyclops—and since Tyson was now apparently my brother, both seemed entirely possible. I was hoping for the latter.

"Oh…it's you…"

"Glad to see you too," I murmured, and an awkward silence ensued. My eyes were glued to the ground. Ashirai shuffled her feet uncomfortably. It might've taken days to get another word out if I left it up to her, so I decided to break the ice. "Tomorrow morning."

"W-what?"

"You figure it out." I turned away from her looked up at cabin three. It was covered in seashells, and a distinct salty ocean-y scent drifted my way on the wind.

_So this is my new home, huh?_ Even in my mind it didn't sound too reassuring. I shook my head gently and took a step toward it, only to take it back. _I can't do this._ I realized. A little less than two hours after learning who my real dad was, and I already missed Artemis's cabin. I missed the silver columns and calming star-filled ceiling; the pine-scent and pseudo naturalness of the wooden walls. Being surrounded by the scent of the ocean was just—unnerving. As I said before, me and water haven't seen eye-to-eye for an _extremely _long time.

Ashirai must have gotten the hint. When I turned around she was gone, leaving me in the darkness. I couldn't bring myself to go to cabin three, and Artemis's invitation was no longer valid for cabin eight. And I doubted that Ashirai would want me to disturb her beauty sleep if she knew we were going to start questing tomorrow. So what was _left?_ Not only did _every_ other councillor I could think of (who was reasonably safe to be around) hate me not only for ignoring the quest for so long, but for burning down a chunk of the woods as well; staying outside for the night was suicidal. The harpies were free to pick off any kids who skipped curfew (is it just me or is that going a _little_ overboard to enforce the rules?).

With a huff, I jammed my hands into my pocket, startled when one of them to smashed into something semi-metallic. After digging it out I starred at it in wonder while the Legend of Zelda item-get theme went off in my head. My mini encyclopaedia-thingy. Maybe my luck was turning back around again. I don't see why not after it'd gone a full 360 within the last six hours.

It seriously _was_ like a digivice. The big central button worked as Enter unless using specific commands, and I could navigate using the side buttons or a holographic keyboard and screen that appeared when I clicked a trigger button to the side (all my years of living in the technological capital of the world had _finally_ paid off!). After a quick GoOGLE search (God/desses of Olympus Giving Legitimate Explanations), I found out that not _every_ cabin in the camp was occupied. Cabin one was rarely ever occupied, but not an option right now. Hades' cabin had one kid who showed up from time to time, but I'd rather stay away from his bad side for now. Artemis's cabin was only used when the Hunters were here (again, not an option), so that only left one choice.

I turned my gaze to cabin two, across from Zeus's cabin one. It was almost as large as his, white with beautiful golden pillars holding up an ancient Greek-styled roof. Hera's cabin had no children. It probably didn't even have a bed, but if I was polite enough, maybe she wouldn't smite me the moment I stepped into it.

I approached the cabin much more bravely than I felt. Once at the door I paused, my palm pressed up against the cool semi-metal. It didn't _feel_ like anyone/thing wanted to kill me. I opened the door a crack and peeked in.

Pitch blackness. Again there were no feelings of malevolence, so I took that as an invitation to enter. And of course the first thing I did was smash face-first into a large statue. I groaned and rubbed my nose, squinting through the darkness at my assailant. The statue was easily five times my size and took up the bulk of the cabin, which was actually a lot smaller than it looked on the outside. The statue was of a robed woman holding a long staff or sceptre sat on a thrown. A hearth stood in the middle of the room, but like all of the rest, it was untouched and unlit. The statue's gaze seemed trained down on me. It was creepy.

"Uuuuh, hi," I greeted the statue uneasily. It didn't move, and for some reason that made it all the more awkward and creepy. "I'm, erm, Eon. I, uh…hope you don't mind if I hang out here for the night. Just kinda don't feel…_welcome_ in my dad's cabin…if that makes sense…" I shifted uncomfortably and then took a seat against the hearth, craning my neck to look up at the statue's face. "My birthday present said that you're the goddess of marriage and family. Isn't it a little weird to have no kids if you're the goddess of family?" And an attempt to start Smalltalk with a statue? What was I _thinking_? "Well, I guess you _have_ kids…maybe they're just too old to be here…" I corrected myself. _Or maybe they're not demigods. D'OH!_

I scratched the back of my head, but it did little to ease the awkwardness out of the situation. So what better to do than keep rambling on to an inanimate object?

"I dunno why, I just don't feel like I'm like them, y'know? Well, I guess you technically _can't_ know if you have no demigod kids; and being a really important goddess and all…plus you're tall…and you got that really cool crown—I'm getting off topic!" Rubbing my eyes I continued, "Is it normal to feel so…different? Am I the 'inverse' the prophecy talks about? Should I even be doing this…?" I sighed. "I guess you'd want me to find Hestia either way, being her sister and all…plus if everyone's going whacko it won't really help with the whole "family" thing for you, huh. …you know what you gods need? A question box! You know, put a drachma and a question in, get an answer within a week? I'm sure it'd catch on and make you all a couple of bucks…though I have no idea what you need to_ buy_…" I slumped back against the hearth and closed my eyes. "'least you could do is talk to me…just a lonely partially disowned kid sitting here…"

"I suppose I could," an oddly energetic voice echoed around the room, instantly chasing away any notions of sleep I previously had. "I've also talked to Zeus about the question box, but _he_ thinks that demigods and monsters need to figure it out for themselves, y'know? He can be _suuuuuch_ a jerk sometimes." I don't know why, but for _some_ reason I couldn't imagine Hera sounding _quite_ like this…maybe it was the painfully energetic tone after I admitted all my current problems. Shouldn't she be, y'know, _motherly?_

"Who's there?" I called out, getting back up and looking around the blackness. At least it wasn't the strange voice from my dreams, that was for certain…yet at the same time I felt that I had to be on guard. Whoever it was was neither on my side nor against it.

"Hmmm? You don't _knooooow_?" The voice questioned. It seemed to be coming near the statue's head, but I couldn't make out a thing. All I knew was that it sounded feminine.

I shrugged in response, tiptoeing to the side of the statue to try to sneak a better peak at the speaker. Nada. Too dark to see.

"Well, I suppose she didn't tell you anything about me yet…such a pain she can be sometimes. Oh well! We'll meet soon enough, little demigod. Until then try not to die! It will make it all the more interesting for the both of us!" With that the voice vanished and the room returned to silence. I was alone yet again, and all I knew now was:

There was a goddess that _someone_ knew about that was interested in me, and,

Zeus had no intention of making a question box. So much for simple answers.

Finding Hestia was going to be a lot harder than I thought…

* * *

Wheeeeeee…that took longer than expected. Got stuck near the ending of the chapter, even though I knew generally what would happen. Stupid writers block. On a side note I finished my mythology class, and dear sweet gods are there a _ton_ of names that start with 'A' in the myths! Aaagh…too many naaaaames! But at least I'll know a TON more myths to write into this with. Wheez.


	9. Chapter 9: Our Journey Begins

Disclaimers:  
~_Percy Jackson and the Olympians_ belongs to Rick Riordan.  
~Monster Rancher belongs to whoever created it and not me. I just like the anime/games.  
~I don't own My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic.

* * *

Must…RANT-! For the love of the gods…I'm having trouble reading past page SIXTY of "The Son of Neptune"! Not because it's hard. Oooooh no. It's because within SIXTY pages, there are ALREADY inconsistencies. It was made pretty clear in the other series that only Hades of the Big Three did not break their pact since WWII. And what's more, it was made PRETTY CLEAR that NO ONE from the GREEK camp knows of the ROMAN camp. Yet Nico knows of it. BS. Sheer BS. Why does he know? He's a traveller? So what? The rule should STILL remain, and I DOUBT Hades would tell him about it! Oh, I'm sorry, PLUTO. Here's some information for you all: the Roman equivalent of the Greek gods are essentially the same and was adopted into Roman culture through a process called "evocatio," meaning the Romans "called out to the god" to get them to join their side. They then adopted Greek myths to make their own and changed the names into Roman ones. Original Roman gods essentially HAVE no mythology attached to them. They just exist. I understand that Riordan was trying to make a comparison between the Greek and Roman camps at the beginning of the book, but it's just downright IRRITATING at some points. The only good things that happened within these first 60 pages is that Percy lost the Mark of Achilles, making the series more interesting because he CAN die again, and how the children of the gods in the Roman camp don't need to be alone if their parent doesn't claim them or if they're the single child of god, ex Pluto. It's garbage though that they'd let Satyrs run around and be fuzzy hobos and irritating the whole page or so of it!

Back to the point about Hades' kid though; how many times does he plan on doing this? Seriously? Be consistent! Just throwing in Jason was bad enough, but TECHNICALLY possible (though Hera's remark of there never being a god who had two children at different times with a mortal was_ completely_ wrong; *points at Nico and Bianca*) as irritating as the concept of a character that was never even hinted at beforehand existing becoming a main character. At least in this fic my characters' parentage makes _sense_! Ashi is over 4000 years old, from the ancient Greek times (and after taking a class on Greek/Roman mythology/culture, she is _soooo_ lucky that she's now in the 21st century…). Poseidon hints at having had more demigod children than Percy at the end of the PJ series, so Eon makes sense (and her opposing powers will be explained as the fic goes on). And slight spoiler, but they _will_ meet a son of Hades, _but_, he's been dead since the Italian renaissance, making him perfectly applicable. It really shouldn't be _that _hard to be consistent in a series; read it, remember it, continue writing. Or do what I do: write quick notes on the chapter of the main points and look back when need be. I swear, if there are many more inconsistencies like this within the book I will _snap!_

* * *

**NOTES!**  
~I will explain more about Eon's past and why she knows so many big words this chapter! YAY!  
~I have little knowledge of American topography (sorry), so I'm going to have to fake or localize it when they start their journey south.

* * *

_**Chapter 9: Our Journey Begins**_

* * *

The moment my eyes opened, our eyes locked. I didn't bother getting up off of the cold, hard floor, barely even dared to breathe. It seemed like the smallest movement would scare this creature away, and yet it stayed, its black eyes staring into the depths of my own. Black-tipped wings were folded to its sides, its long neck held high and proud, yet not condescendingly. Its face held a mixture of red, black and yellow, but the rest of its body was pure white, its legs a contrasting black. Finally though, when my lungs could take no more deprivation, I breathed deeply to refill my lungs. When I saw that the crane didn't move from its perch, I proceeded to gulp down air greedily until my lungs were once again full.

It was tall, slightly over half my height (though given my vertically-impaired physique, that wasn't saying much). The crane sat atop a large hearth, a flame barely licking its tail feathers. I rolled from my back to my stomach, then got to my knees, all the while keeping my eyes on the bird. As I shifted, the crane's wings pulled away from its sides and spread to at least a five-foot wingspan, but instead of fleeing like I feared, it began to preen itself (not that it needed it). So I finally stood.

"Hestia?" I asked.

Without looking up or even opening its mouth, the mythical bird whispered _"yes,"_ to me. I shivered. Though the voice was clearly female, I couldn't help but be reminded of the _other_ ghostly voice that also haunted my dreams as of late.

"Why are you here? Are you going to show me the way?" If you think it's abnormal to ask a bird for directions, let me just tell you that this isn't the first time I've done it. Not something I would generally recommend though (_especially_ not from chickens).

With its head still stuck under one wing, the crane waved its free wing toward me.

I braced myself, ready for a monster or a gust of wind or a watermelon to spontaneously smash over my head, but nothing happened—except for my necklace flinging itself from around my neck to hover in stasis above the crane. Dream or no, I couldn't control my gawking.

"_This shall show you the correct path when the time comes,"_ Hestia whispered. The stone fell right into the fire.

I yelped, unsure of what to do next. Jump into the flames after it? Wait for her to take it out for me? Cry hysterically until someone told me it's gonna be alright and give me a cookie? (I personally liked the last one the most, but we both knew life wasn't that simple or tasty for demigods). Before I could choose any of the above though, the crane took off into the air just as a golden fist-sized flame shot straight up into the sky from hearth. The crane began to circle around above me, completely uncharacteristically for a normal marsh bird, showering red and white feathers around me as the flame extinguished around the rock and gravity took effect.

I watched the scene in awe as snowy and crimson feathers danced through the air and into my hair and clothes. Finally the emerald stone came to an abrupt stop right in front of me. It hovered there while a golden bird flapped its wings inside of the stone. Kewl.

"_This shall show the correct path when the time comes,"_ Hestia repeated. The feathers stopped raining down and the crane hovered in place. _"Take up this stone and follow your destiny, young flame of fate."_

With that, the crane took off toward the rising sun, leaving me alone with the blessed Monster Ranch-esque stone. And seeing no reason in ticking off any gods so early into this quest, I cupped both hands around the stone and pulled it from the air. It was hot to touch, but in a pleasant way. Soothing, almost.

"This'll show me the way, huh…" I whispered to myself, looking at the phoenix stone. I then shifted my hold on it, allowing it to rest in my palms. "Alright! Show me which way to go first then!"

The bird froze inside of the stone and its wings shot backwards, making it into an arrow shape. Holy _crap_ was this like the Monster Rancher stone! Coincidence? I think not. Judging by the location of the sun though, I decided upon our starting direction for our quest. Whether it was correct or not though, only time would tell.

I opened my eyes.

I moaned as I got up off of the cold, hard floor of cabin two. My back, ribs and neck ached. I was so cold that I could've sworn that I saw my breath in the semi-darkness of the cabin. From a single window high above Hera's altar, a weak beam of sunlight bathed her statue, telling me that dawn had finally come. For a moment I tensed, reluctant to leave on this dangerous quest. How was I going to pull through? I could barely hold a sword, and I didn't know _how_ to use my gauntlets! Plus that whole dead-undead line in the prophecy? _REALLY?_ Way to inspire confidence, guys.

Yet, the thought of how everybody in camp, not to mention the whole world were so dependent on Hestia's powers, it crushed my fears. Before I knew it, I was out the door and on my way to the Big House. And that was where things already started going downhill.

As soon as I got within viewing distance of the Big House I could see that something was wrong. Clarisse, the towering leader of cabin six, had Will in a choke-hold and was yelling at him in ancient Greek. It looked like the poor guy had a broken nose, a black eye and a good covering of bruises all over his body, but Clarisse wasn't completely unscathed. Her nose was bleeding and she was leaning heavily to one side, her bad leg at a strange angle yet still somehow supporting her weight.

The rest of the councillors stood around the fighters, none of them seeming too keen on interfering. In fact, a number of them were cheering them on. I almost jumped when Ashirai came up from behind and dropped her hand on my shoulder.

"This is what will happen if Hestia is not found soon. A return to animalistic behaviour, chaos, and the downfall of society. But to be affecting _us_ already, we can only assume that it's worse out there." She nodded to the road barely visible beyond the Property Line.

"G-great…" My confidence must have found my voice, because Ashirai gave me a sceptical look.

"Having second thoughts?"

"Who wouldn't?" I growled, pushing past her and heading into the Big House. Only Ashirai (of course), Tabatha, Annabeth and Percy bothered following, the rest too busy watching Clarisse and Will duke it out to notice us.

Chiron greeted us inside, all of us taking seats around the ping-pong table. Chiron stood off to the side, giving us all a little more room to move. Mr. D. was sitting at the table as well, shuffling a deck of cards. He seemed unfocused, staring off ahead and losing the odd card in his shuffling techniques. It wasn't until Chiron "accidently" bumped into his chair that he looked to each of us with his shade-covered eyes.

"So you decided to go after all, eh?" He gave me a decidedly hard stare, but with the sunglasses over his eyes the scolding technique lost some of its effect. Some. You try getting a stare-down from a god. It would make even Chuck Norris' and Batman's lovechild cry in terror.

"Yes," I answered as curtly as possible, avoiding his eyes.

The god of wine sniffed irritably and put the cards down. He looked around the table at the other councillors with me.

"I take it Ashirai is coming with you as well," he nodded to her, "but who will be the third?"

Seeing as Thalia hadn't bothered to show up, I shook my head. "No one."

His brow furrowed.

"You expect to go on one of the most dangerous and _important _missions of the century—no—of the _millennium_ with just the _two_ of you?!" The violet flames of his eyes lit up enough to see under the shades, and for a moment, I was scared. Was he going to turn some of that power on me here and now? It'd be hard enough finding Hestia as a human. Being a hamster was just out of the question. I decided that it was in my best interest not to call Aisu our third.

Chiron set a hand on Mr. D's shoulder. Dionysus glowered at me for a while longer, his eyes slowly dimming.

"We see. That is your choice then, as the leader of the quest," The centaur conceded. He nodded to a bag of supplies on the table. Ashirai snatched it up greedily. "In there is a thermos of nectar, a baggy of ambrosia, 10 golden drachmas, one hundred American dollars, and a few more supplies that should help you two on your way. Argus is waiting outside with a car, and will bring you as far as the bus station. I…assume you know where you will be heading next?" Chiron sounded nervous.

"Yes," I answered again, but didn't bother to elaborate. They'd just have to trust me on this.

Percy and Annabeth exchanged glances but didn't say a word. Tabatha seemed like the only one in the room who really believed we stood a chance at this point. Or maybe she was just daydreaming about her most recent Molotov cocktail being the key to lighting the hearths.

With a small relived sigh, Chiron said, "Very well. We will see you off then." He stepped back for us. Following my lead, everybody at the table got up and headed outside. Clarisse and Will had finally exhausted themselves when we returned, gaining us the attention of the other councillors at last. With them now, surprisingly, was Thalia. I gave her a small worried smile as I headed for the car, believing that saying nothing would be a better way to leave, but the Hunter of Artemis clearly had other plans. She started toward me confidently, her blue eyes hard and determined, hand stretching outwards. Deciding she wanted a handshake or maybe even a hug, I held out my hand as well, juuuust to pull it back through my hair coolly when at the last moment Thalia pivoted and punched Ashirai in the jaw so hard that the force sent the older demigod flying backwards. Smooth, Eon, smooth. She landed on her butt in an extremely undignified fashion. The shocked look on Ashirai's face gave me the biggest smile I'd had in a long time.

"That was for what you did during Capture the Flag," Thalia growled, catching Chiron's bag midair. She turned to me, a slightly less mischievous smile on her face. "I decided I'll come with you. You'll need all the help you can get, after all."

"Great!" I beamed, quickly glancing back at Mr. D. The god made no objections, so taking that as an "okay", I bounded past Argus and jumped into the car, ready to go. Aisu was already curled up on central back seat, and Thalia sat in the back with me, leaving the miffed Ashirai to sit shotgun. No complaints there.

The trip to the bus station passed rather uneventfully. No chimeras chasing trucks. No witches brewing love potions. No cross-dressing kobolds with bad hair cuts. Just three demigod kids, a blue and white puppy with a stomach to oblivion, and an eyeball-covered chauffer heading to the greyhound bus station. Nothing strange or interesting here.

Argus dropped us off at the bus station and promptly left. Ashirai (who had finally gotten over Thalia's surprise attack) said that it was because he could feel the effects Hestia's disappearance was already having on the people of this world, being the servant of the goddess of family and all. But I didn't need a hundred eyes to see the mood most of the people were in here. Many were hunched over in depression or glaring suspiciously at everybody that passed. When we went to pay for some sandwiches for lunch, we were met with the angriest cashier in the history of Capitalism, who demanded we show him ID before paying him the whole $8.97. Considering my semi-alien status here and not being of legal age, Ashirai had to Mist our way out of trouble before he called the cops. Needless to say, he got a bad comment.

"So, where to first?" Thalia asked between bites of her PB&J (totally not worth the $2.50 by the way).

"That way." I pointed with a tuna-covered finger. I should've chosen a meatier sandwich like Ashirai's meat lovers or Aisu's turkey. They were a lot cleaner to eat too.

"Southwest?" Ashirai asked while licking the mustard off of her fingers. I nodded. "Any particular reason why?"

I swallowed a little harder than I intended to, making me cough. When I could breathe again, I rasped, "My dream told me to."

"Your dream? When did you have this?" Thalia inquired, finishing off her sandwich as well.

I shrugged. "I've had a couple while in camp, though most made no sense. In the one last night, I saw a bird—a crane, who was Hestia. She told me to go with way…sorta."

"Sorta?" The doubt in Ashirai's voice was understandable, so I countered by pulling the compass stone from my shirt and putting it on the table. Both of the girls leaned in to get a better look at it.

"Wonderful. Jewellery." Ashirai looked distinctly unimpressed.

"It's a compass," I said, resisting the urge to stamp on her foot. Taking it into my hands, I closed my eyes and concentrated as hard as my mind would allow me to on the stone.

_Come on. Show me the way again—please!_

A soft surprised sniff told me that the stone decided to obey. I opened my eyes again to see the golden arrow pointing southwest, just as I said.

"Okay, so southwest." Thalia closed my hand over the stone to draw less attention. Sure, the Mist covered up the magic, but mortals saw different things because of the Mist. The last thing we wanted was for someone to think it was a diamond and steal it. That was probably a good call on her part. "Where to _in_ the southwest? Can you narrow it down any?"

"N-no." I gripped the stone tighter. "It's not like it's a GPS."

"Hm…" We sat in silence for a few minutes, thinking it over. Southwest was too vague to go on, and we didn't have the time or money to take a bus and find out afterwards that we overshot our destination.

Ashirai's eyes lit up. "The forth line."

"What?" The both of us asked in unison.

"'And through her a soul once lost revived'" The electric demigod quoted for us. "Prophecies tend to go in order, right? Her inverse is her power. Fire over water, storm. Eon is our mockingbird. And I've waited millennia for this day to come. That leaves the forth line, and where must you go to meet the dead?"

"The underworld," Thalia murmured, leaving me in the dust.

"Exactly, and I doubt it's moved since I left the Hunters, so—"

"We're going to Vegas."

"Vegas?!" I couldn't suppress my surprise. Why would the underworld be in _Las Vagas_ of all places!?

"Hades likes showgirls," Aisu piped up from under the table. The puppy had somehow rounded up another four sandwiches and was pigging out on them. Hopefully that cashier didn't have a security tape (but then again, what could he do—arrest Aisu?).

"No, he owns a record company there, and likes to be around the in and now," Thalia corrected the puppy, who then proceeded to ignore us further. That's my Aisu, always the caring type.

"So we need to get to Vegas—" Ashirai started.

"And ship me off to down there..." I finished. I was already starting to dislike the way that this plan was heading.

"_No._" Thalia cut off Ashirai. "We'll get to Vegas and try to figure out how you can do your part of the prophecy from there. Do you have any idea _who_ you need to bring back? Any images in your dreams? Signs? Names?"

"Notta one."

After a pause, Thalia managed, "Alright. There's still time, don't worry."

I'd worry less if she'd sounded half as confident as she had hoped.

"We'd better get on a bus soon if we want to even MAKE it to Vegas," Ashirai warned, glancing around the station. "Though we're not going to get far on a hundred bucks and whatever else the kid has." She held up my remaining 265 dollars.

"Hey!"

"Sacrifices need to be made on a quest, kiddo," She stated. She got up, money in hand. "Though you know what'd be faster and cheaper—"

"_NO_ Red Arrow!" Thalia barked, and I had to agree. Even Aisu seemed against the idea of using the Phoenix-owned bus service, announcing her opinion with a loud yet oddly cute burp.

"Fine, fine," Ashi grumbled and left. She returned ten minutes later with three tickets in hand.

"Let's get on the bus. Now," Ashirai demanded as soon as she returned, and began pushing us toward the bus destined for Kansas.

"_Kansas?"_ Thalia murmured as Ashi herded us onto the stairs. "How did you manage to get _three_ tickets to get us half way across the country?"

"Don't talk, just sit," The thunder demigod ordered and flashed the tickets to the driver. That clearly meant through no legal means, but what could I say, we were desperate.

I took the window seat and Thalia sat next to me. Across the aisle Ashi took a seat as well, arms crossed and eyes forward like some sort of sentinel.

"Just getting to Kansas will take us at least three days," Thalia said, leaning on the armrest. "The hard part will be figuring out how to get to Vegas from there."

"Why couldn't we have just taken a plane?" I ventured, watching all the tourists as they boarded the bus.

"Too dangerous," Ashirai answered bluntly. "Busy as he is right now, Zeus has little reason to allow you into his domain, even with us with you. You're not supposed to be alive, what with the pact. So even if you're saving Hestia, chances are high he'd smite you down on principle."

"Oh. Yay…" I choked. If Zeus thought I didn't deserve to live thanks to that old pact, how would _Hades_ feel!? This trip was getting worse and worse by the minute.

Thalia patted my shoulder and drew me from my brooding.

"Here." She placed something in my hand. "Consider it a belated birthday present. It might help with your, um, powers."

I opened my hand to reveal a gold and silver lighter. Nothing very fancy, but pretty nonetheless. As I pocketed it, Thalia said, "You should put on the gloves as well. You never know when a monster will strike." With a nod, I opened by backpack and retrieved the gloves, tugging them on with ease.

The bus started up a few minutes later, when everybody was aboard, and took off down the highway, eastbound. Ashirai was tense, her eyes snapping from person to person as if expecting one of them to jump out at us any second (which was always a possibility), but it would do nothing to reduce the pulsing vein she'd surely get in her temple if she didn't learn to chillax some. Thalia and I gossiped for the first hour or so, played eye-spy out the window until we ran out of ways to describe every tree and rock for miles, and eventually dozed off. When we awoke, Ashirai was just as we left her, cautious and tense to the point that some of the tourists were giving her odd looks and whispering things to their friends. That was when Thalia got up and told her to change seats with her. When Sparky-Mc-Scary-Pants tried to decline, Thalia leaned close and whispered something in her ear. Ashi was in the seat next to me in seconds.

"What'd she say?"

I received no response beyond an annoyed grunt.

"Ah, so she said that she'd steal your lunch and pour cherry sauce down your pants."

She gave me a bewildered look. "What?"

I shrugged. "BBQ sauce instead then? Smells tastier, but not as sticky."

Her eyes narrowed in annoyance as I continued my list of Thalia's supposed threats. Finally though, when I got to Thalia giving her chocolate fudge sundae to the Pegasi she snapped. Grabbing my shirt she yanked me to eye-level with her. Thalia was half-raised in her seat in a second, ready to step in.

"Why won't you take this _seriously_?!" Ashirai hissed. She shook me once. "We are on a _quest_! One that may very well determine the fate of the world if we don't find Hestia _soon!_ So how can you _JOKE_ at a time like this!?"

"Why not?" The question puzzled her, so I continued. "You've waited millennia for this, training, searching for me, doing who knows what else. How much fun have you had in all that time? You looked stressed. You'll tire yourself out before we even get there, or tire _us_ out instead trying to keep you calm. I may not know much about quests, but when you do anything, anger and stress clouds your mind. It's harder to concentrate, and you make more mistakes. Do you want to screw up now, after waiting all this time?"

The thunder demigod studied me for a moment, my words sinking in. Finally, she placed me back down. I vaguely noticed a golden sheen in the air as she did so; the Mist, as I've been told, when it's thick enough to see. How much training did this girl _get_ to do this? At least we didn't have to worry about the rest of the bus being scared out of their minds from the already scary-looking demigod.

"I'm sorry," She grumbled, making it point to look into the aisle like nothing happened. Thalia relaxed and sat back in her seat.

"'Tis okay." Shifting my head I stared out the window. "Besides," I murmured, mostly to myself, "we don't know what will happen once we get to Vegas."

Silence elapsed for the next couple of hours. When night fell everyone curled up to catch a few Z's. I tried to join them, but my mind wouldn't let me fall asleep. Who did I need to bring back from the underworld? Would I just _know_? Was Hestia perhaps down there? If she was, why _would_ she be there? And wouldn't Hades have noticed it? Or if he _did_ take her, like he did his wife, what was he trying to accomplish other than getting some divorce papers? It didn't make any sense.

I rolled over away from the window and found Ashi was still awake, her eyes staring out the front window lazily, watching a gentle rain bat the window.

"Go to sleep," She ordered without looking to me.

"Can't sleep."

"Then try harder."

"I know! Let's play twenty questions!" I announced giddily.

She looked to me, her brows furrowed. "What?"

"You know? A game to take our minds off things. I dunno how you really play, but I think someone asks you a question and you need to answer it, then vise versa."

"You want to play a game you don't even know the rules for," she stated skeptically.

"Why not? It's better than sitting here doing nothing."

She leaned on her fist and gave me an irritated sigh. When I made no move to end the discussion, she finally gave in. "So what do we do?"

"Okay, I'll ask a question and you answer it. Then you can ask me something."

"Twenty times?"

Shrugging, I said, "More or less. This is Eon-version MK-6362!"

One of her eyes was shut from leaning on her fist, adding to her annoyed look, but she finally asked: "Where were you born?"

"Canada," I answered simply. "What about you?"

"Where do you think?"

"That's not how you play the game," I protested.

"You don't even know _how_ to play the game!"

"Where were you born?"

She groaned. "Greece, about 4000 years ago, okay?"

"Alright!" I grinned. "Is your hair natural or do you dye it?"

"Mm?" Ashi looked up at the red streak running through her bangs. "Natural. What about _you_?"

"Yes and no."

The irritated look reappeared. "How can it be natural but not?"

"When I was born my hair was black, like my mother's," I answered, "but when I was about one, my mom told me I got really ill, and I almost died. She prayed to the gods, and days later her prayers were finally heard. She said that there was a red and blue flash and I glowed for a minute. When the shine was gone I had silver hair, but was perfectly healthy."

"Hn…" She mulled it over silently.

"What next?" I prompted.

"…you're twelve. I checked Canada eight years ago, but didn't get a whiff of you. Where were you?"

"Oh, when I was born my mom packed up her things and moved to Japan with me to my grandma's, where she taught in Tokyo U as an English and mythology prof. We only moved back a year or so ago."

"You lived in Japan?" Ashirai was beginning to look a little more interested than earlier. "Do you speak Japanese?"

"It's my turn to ask a question, but yes. I learned English and Japanese as a kid, and my dyslexia made it a _nightmare_. To make me better at English, my mom gave me a dictionary and made me read ten pages every night before bed. So where did you stay when you quit being a Hunter of Artemis?"

"There are few places you _can_ stay without time catching up to you. I quit about forty years ago, then went to the Lotus Hotel. Time stops inside of there. It's a paradise for kids, but if you don't keep your wits about you, you'll end up as nothing more than a thrall to the Lotus Eaters' blissful curse."

"That doesn't sound too bad," I admitted, imagining what kind of paradise it'd be like. Video games galore, good food, and Hakuna Matata for everyone.

"It is if you have plans to do something with your life," she retorted.

"How did you know when to leave to look for me then?" I asked. Even if she didn't fall for the curse of the Lotus Eaters, how would she ever know when or where to look?

"My contact," She replied.

"Contact?" I pushed, now curious. Someone else knew about me? Another god, perhaps?

She sniffed. "I was only told that the Mockingbird appeared eleven years ago, and set out looking over North America, South America, Central America, and even Europe at times. I'd return after four months to the hotel, plan my next search, then move out again after a month to slow time's effect on me."

"Clever," was the only word I could come up with.

"If your mom was a mythology teacher, how come you didn't know your dad was a god?"

My eyes shifted down to my hands. I didn't want to talk about my mom, not after how we left off, but in the spirit of the game, I forced myself to say, "I don't know. Maybe she thought I'd think she was joking around about her job or something. Maybe she just didn't like my dad. She never really talked about him much, and made a face whenever I asked about him. My grandma hated him though. She said she only met him once and it left a bad taste in her mouth, and that I reminded her of him. My grandma never really liked me much."

I didn't notice that tears were running down my cheeks until Ashi stroked some away.

"You don't need to talk about it if you're gonna cry about it." She looked away awkwardly.

I couldn't help but smile. Deep inside, the bad-tempered demigod actually had a kind heart. Good to know.

"It's fine. Really," I insisted, "I just kinda see now why my grandma hated me, if she knew I was the child of a god, and a Greek one at that. Not Asian like her."

Ashi sniffed but said nothing.

"So how many cars have you stolen in your long life?"

Ashirai choked in surprise and gawked at me. "_What?!_"

"How many cars have you stolen—or maybe chariots or horses would be a better question to ask if you _that_ old."

She face-palmed. "If you really _must_ know, I've stolen," her voice got quieter, "6 cars, 14 carriages, 57 horses, 2 pegasi…and a cow."

'What did you steal a cow for?"

"It was a joke on Hermes when I was young. He actually took it pretty well. Said I was just like him at his age—only he managed to steal _all_ of Apollo's herd when he was only two days old, or so they say. What about you?"

"I don't even know how to _drive_ a car, much less _take_ one. And I've never ridden a horse in my life till camp, and they didn't seem all that enthused to see me. Aisu ate a kid's cat before though. But she spit it up after an hour, good as new. Her stomach is a pretty scary place, but good as a fridge."

Ashirai looked horrified, or maybe she was just a cat person. When she pulled herself back together, she asked, a little awkwardly: "What do you like to do?"

"Me?" I had to think about it for a second. "Video games. Sleeping, playing with Aisu, listening to my music."

"Not singing or playing an instrument?"

Giving her a sidelong glare I said, "Just because I _can_ play _some_ things doesn't mean I know HOW to play them. I can play a piano because I know what the keys sound like and what I want to hear. My fingers guide me through the song, so it's not a real conscious thing. The violin is sort of the same. I learned how to tune it, but that's about it. Hold it under the chin and use the stick-thingy to play. String on string makes sound and my hand guides the stick. I can't read music sheets, and I don't want to learn. It's a waste of time, especially since I can't even play _all_ instruments. It's weird. I can play the piano and most types of strings, but not drums, woodwinds or brass. I _can't_ play electric instruments though, like electric guitar, the keyboard, or electric bass. And singing…doesn't the nickname you give me say it all? I just copy the voices of those who sing the originals. It's not—real. So I don't like to do it until I have to, or unless it's an unconscious thought."

Ashirai nodded.

"So what about you?"

"Mm. I suppose I like to hunt and kill monsters, fool mortals with the mist, train and…watch My Little Pony…" Ashi trailed off awkwardly.

"_What?"_ I stared at her incredulously. Was she telling me that the toughest chick in our party, no, in all of Camp Halfblood was a Brony!? _WE WERE DOOMED! _

The thunder demigod glared at me. "I just like the characters!"

"Whatever you say, Rainbow Dash." I thought carefully about my next question. I didn't want to find out anything else so girly about her. "Do—did you have any siblings?"

Ashi's expression darkened a tad.

"I'm a daughter of Zeus. Of course I have tons of siblings. _Thalia_ is right there." She motioned over to the sleeping huntress. "I'm also related to a number of gods, like Athena, but I assume that's not what you mean. So yes. I do have another sibling." She starred grudgingly out the front window again. "Her name is Shin, and she's my twin." (I don't think she meant to rhyme there, so I let it slide). "And if you haven't met her already, you're bound to meet her soon enough."

"Soooo…she became a Huntress too?"

The glare she gave me spiked terror in my heart. In was so cold and full of anger.

"I never said that," she growled.

"Then how—" I shut up. Maybe it was for the best that I didn't question how her sister could possibly be alive if she didn't become a Hunter of Artemis as well. Maybe she just forgot how long it'd been, and assumed that she'd stayed young just like Ashi had. Either way, I didn't want to ask, so I kept my mouth firmly shut.

Our game ended there, with Ashi in a foul mood. I rolled over in my seat and curled up for some rest. It felt like I'd only just closed my eyes when the bus made a horrible screeching noise and jerked, throwing me up against the seat in front of me. With a groan, I pried myself off the seat and looked around groggily. The other passengers were looking around in confusion as well. Thalia had her hand on her dagger pouch, and Ashi pushed me onto the ground and stared out the window intently.

"It's alright everyone! Just a blown out tire!" The bus driver announced and pulled out a cell phone. "Don't worry, we'll be on our way within an hour!"

"If only we had that much time," Thalia murmured under her breath.

Ashi's hand on my neck was beginning to hurt. I tried to push myself up off the ground to see what she was starring at, but she kept me down with ease.

The bus driver dialed a number and began to talk cheerfully to the person on the other end. At least we'd be moving soon. Just a little bit longer and we'd be in Kansas, right? Of course not! Because we're demigods, and nothing can go easily for us! My neck felt like it was kinking when Ashirai said the two words that made my blood turn to ice.

"Aw crap."

* * *

YAY FINALLY DONE! I'M SO SORRY IT TOOK SO LONG! BLOODY WRITER'S BLOCK! AAAGH! T ,T At least it's done now…whoohoo…just need to look at my monster list now! Hopefully I'll have another chapter done soonish…maybe…


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